


Magika

by BearMiya90



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26989555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BearMiya90/pseuds/BearMiya90
Summary: Ohno, Nino, Jun, Aiba and Sho are students in Arashi Wizarding School. Soon, they will discover a secret.
Relationships: Ninomiya Kazunari/Ohno Satoshi
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

There was a small, lonely house at the end of the road where a pair of mother and son lived. They lead a quiet life there, away from where they belong. The mother kept a secret from his son. A secret that she had kept since her husband died in an  _ accident _ 10 years ago. Her son was only 5 years old back then and couldn’t understand what happened to their family. When someone from her past visited her house, she knew it’s time to reveal the secret to her son. Soon, both of them will return to where they belong.

  
  
  
  
  


Ninomiya Kazunari read the letter he had received a week ago for the umpteenth time. Tomorrow, he will start his formal education on magic at Arashi Wizarding School. He was excited and nervous at the same time. Excited to finally have a chance to learn how to control his magic. Nervous as he thought how he might screw up in his class. At the same time, he wanted to have a distraction from thinking about a secret that he recently found.

“Kazunari, stop reading your letter. Come downstairs. There is someone you need to meet,” said his mother and Nino just nodded. He was curious. He rarely had a guest. Usually, it would only be his three best friends but he doubted they will be here today. All three of them must be pretty busy packing their stuff before going to school tomorrow.

When he arrived in the living room, there was an old woman with her son sitting on the sofa across his parents. At the single sofa, his soon to be headmaster, Johnny Kitagawa, was sitting while stroking his beard. He stared at his guest, examining the little boy. The boy must be around his age. He was about the same height as Nino with sleepy eyes and chubby cheek. Nino couldn’t help but think how cute the other boy was while wondering if they have met before. The boy kinda looked familiar. The other boy noticed how Nino had been staring at him and his cheek turned red in embarrassment.

“Have a seat, Kazunari,” said his father, motioning to the empty seat next to him. He complied to the request.

“Kazu, this is Ohno Satoshi. He will stay in this house from now on and tomorrow, he will go to the school with you and your friends. I hope you don’t mind if you share the room with him,” explained his father. Nino just nodded his head while at the same time wondering who the other boy might be and why he will be staying with his family from now on. But he kept the question to himself. His father’s attention was now at the other boy.

“Satoshi, make yourself comfortable, okay? You don’t mind to share the room with my son, right?” Asked his father and the boy timidly answered.

“I don’t mind. But,…” He left his sentence hanging.

“But?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I share the room with my mother? After all, we’re going to be the servant of this mansion, right?” Asked Ohno and Nino’s father just shook his head.

“No, Satoshi. This house is yours as much as it belongs to my family. Your father and I were best friends and this is the least I could do for him and his family,” his father explained further.

Noticing how awkward the situation was, Nino decided to bring the boy to his room.

“Papa, I think I should bring Ohchan to my room first,” said Nino motioning for Ohno to stand up and follow him. The boy looked surprised to hear the nickname. Even Nino himself was surprised. The name just naturally came out of his mouth.

“Yes, you may. Lunch will be brought to your room. I have a meeting with the Council of Four later. Please stay in your room and do not come out until I allow you to,” ordered his father. His father wasn’t always bossy but each time he had a meeting with the members of the Council of Four, he will not allow Nino to wander around due to confidentiality. Usually, he didn’t care about the council but today, he was interested to know. He guessed it had to be related to the mysterious boy who obediently followed him.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Ohno Satoshi obediently followed the young master of the mansion. For him, Ninomiya Kazunari was cute with his mischievous eyes and a mole on his chin. He was as short as Ohno with a skinny body. But what Ohno like the most was his hand. His short stubby fingers were really cute and Ohno kept on staring at the hand as he followed the boy to his room.

When he arrived at Ninomiya’s room, he was surprised to see how big the room was but only half of the room was used. There were two beds in the room and Nino sat on one of them which was pretty messy with manga and video games on the top. He gestured for Ohno to take a seat at the other bed which was tidy and empty.

“My friends usually sleep there whenever they come here. But, I guess it’s all yours now. I’m sorry if my room is too messy,” said Ninomiya.

“It’s okay, Ninomiya Kun. My room is messier than this,” said Ohno as he remembered his room. It was messy with a lot of paintings, crayon and pencils everywhere in the room. He scanned the room and noticed a nice mural on the wall. It was a drawing of two little boys, about three years old, making a sandcastle. He bet one of them was Ninomiya, seeing the mole on his chin.

“Who are they?” he asked as he pointed to the mural. He noticed how Ninomiya glanced at the mural and then frowned as if he had just realized something.

“It’s me with a friend. Anyway, just call me Nino. Are you excited to go to school tomorrow?” Asked the other boy as he took a seat next to Ohno. Ohno just nodded his head. Honestly, he was still confused about everything that happened since last week. A man named Kitagawa sensei came to his house and suddenly said it’s time. His mother then told him that he is a wizard and he will start attending Arashi Wizarding School. Soon after, they started packing their stuff and his mother told him that they’re moving out from the house. When he arrived at the mansion this morning, he was surprised with Ninomiya san’s treatment. He didn’t know how he got the idea, but he was confident that the only reason he was allowed to stay in a big mansion was to be a servant.

Noticing his lack of enthusiasm to speak, Nino awkwardly standing up and went to his wardrobe. He took a few t-shirts from his wardrobe and proceed to fold them before putting them inside his luggage.

“I bet you’re ready for school tomorrow. I still have to pack my stuff and decide which games and manga to bring,” said Nino as he packing his stuff.

“And I still need to iron the uniform to wear tomorrow. I wish I know how to magically iron my uniform. Mama won’t allow the maid to help me. She said it’s time for me to learn to be independent,” Nino keep on talking and Ohno simply listened to him. He didn’t know how to respond. He noticed the uniform on the bed and realized it was slightly different than his.

“Nino, why is your uniform different than mine?” Asked Ohno suddenly and Nino turned to look at him with a confused look.

  
  
  
  
  


Nino was surprised to hear Ohno. He looked at his yellow uniform and couldn’t understand what Ohno meant. If it means the colour of the uniform is different, Ohno should know that it was because they will be placed in a different house. Looking at Ohno’s mother, he was positive that she is a witch. So, why didn’t she tell Ohno about the school?

“What do you mean by that?”He found himself asking the boy another question, instead of answering. Who knows that maybe Ohno’s uniform was different and it’s not because of the colour.

The boy gave him a questioning look, perhaps thinking what he meant by that. Then, he went to his luggage and took his uniform and it was as Nino expected. Ohno’s uniform is in a different colour than his. It was a purple short sleeve shirt with a black strip at the edge of the sleeve. One black strip indicated that he is the first-year student.

“Oh, you would be in House of Matsumoto and I would be in the House of Ninomiya,” explained Nino. Ohno cutely tilted his head in confusion and Nino decided to explain more about the school as the other boy looked clueless.

“There will be four houses in the school. If you have a yellow uniform, you will be in the same house as mine, purple is for Matsumoto, red is for Sakurai and green is for Aiba,”

“How do they decide which house you belong to? Does that mean that if you’re in a different house, I will not share the room with you in the school?”

“Oh, they decide your house based on your speciality magic. For example, mine would be creating an illusion and yours would be controlling elements. For House of Aiba, it would be controlling animals and House of Sakurai would be for healers. The house is only for classes as we need to take specific training classes with the rest of our members in the house. At the same time, we will also take a few general classes with all of the first-year class. If I’m not mistaken, the general class would be History of Magic, Herbs and Potions, Charms, Ancient Runes, Apparition and Magical Law. But we will not learn some of the classes until we’re older,”

“Oh, thank you. I’m sorry because you have to explain it to me. My mom just told me last week that I’m a wizard and I need to attend school. I don’t know much because she didn’t tell me anything,” Explained Ohno for his lack of knowledge about the school. Nino just smiled at him while wondering why Ohno’s mother keep their identity as a wizard a secret.

“Your mother is a witch, right?”

“Yes, but I think she didn’t like that. When Kitagawa sensei arrived last week, she looked reluctant to let me come to this school. I think it had something to do with my father. She told me that my father died because of magic,” explained Ohno. Hearing that made Nino wanted to ask more about Ohno’s family but he decided against it. He then decided to talk more about the school.

“Just now you asked me if we will be sharing the room in the school, right?” Nino asked and Ohno nodded his head. “We will share the room if we’re in the same group,”

“What group? How do they decide on the group?”

“I’m not sure. What I know, they already decide our group even before we start school. They put the name of your group in the offer letter,” Nino then took his letter and show it to Ohno. There will be five students in a group. He will be in a group named Phoenix with his three best friends. There was another unknown member for his group and he wasn’t surprised to find himself hoping for Ohno to be in the same group as his.

Ohno then took his letter from his beg and Nino was glad to find out Ohno would be in the same group as him.

“Wow, we would be in the same group,” shouted Nino excitedly. Even though they just met, he felt comfortable with the other boy. He felt happier when he saw Ohno was beaming with happiness too.

“Why do we have to be in the group?”

“Hmm, because every month we will have to do a quest. It’s impossible to do a quest alone. Don’t worry about the other members. They’re my best friends. I’m sure they will like you too,” said Nino when he noticed that the boy might be worried about the other members of their group. He had been best friend with them since he was a small kid, he knew they will like Ohno.

They then proceed to chat about school and his friends. He told Ohno about the founders of the school and how he and his friends were related to the founders. As Ohno was clueless about the school, there were a lot of things to talk about with him. He didn’t notice the time until his maid knocked at the door to bring the lunch for them. It was his favourite hamburger.

“So, your father always has a meeting at the house?” asked Ohno as they ate their lunch together.

“Yes, it’s the meeting for the Council of Four,”

“What is the Council of Four?”

“Oh yes, I forgot to tell you about it. It’s something like Parents-Teacher Association. If there was any problem related to school, they will decide on what to do. The members are the descendants of the four founders,” explained Nino and Ohno just nodded his head.

“I’m sorry because you have to explain a lot of things to me,”

“It’s okay. Tomorrow when we board the train to go to school, you will meet my friend and I’m sure you will love them,” said Nino.

His father’s meeting continued until dinner and again, both Nino and Ohno were instructed to eat in his bedroom. He was tempted to go downstairs and found out more about the meeting but he wasn’t surprised to find out his bedroom was enchanted as he couldn’t get out of his room. When he finished packing his stuff, he went to sleep and decided to ask his friend, Sho if he knew anything about the meeting.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Ohno silently hoped that he could run from the compartment. He felt uncomfortable to be stared at by one of Nino’s friend. If Ohno was not mistaken, the boy’s name is Matsumoto Jun. He was quite handsome but Ohno prefers Nino’s bratty look instead. Jun had a strong feature due to the combination of his sharp eyes and thick eyebrow. His stare was scary and Ohno would be dead if his stare could kill him.

“J, could you please stop staring at Ohchan? You’re making him uncomfortable,” said Nino as he took a seat next to Ohno. He put his head on Ohno’s shoulder and without thinking, Ohno stroke his back as if it was a natural thing to do. Even when Nino’s friends looked at them strangely, he still didn’t think anything was wrong with their attitude.

Yesterday, after both of them finished packing up stuff for school, they both went to sleep. Even though he had been sleeping for a few hours, it felt like he only slept for an hour when Nino woke him up to get ready to go to the train station. Before he left the house, his mother just smiled at him and told him to be careful at school. He didn’t know why but he thought that his mother was worried about something. Yes, it’s true, his mother must have been worried to be separated from him for the first time but he knew there was something else which bothered his mom.

When they arrived at the train station, Nino’s friend, Sho, Aiba and Jun were already in the compartment. All three of them were chatting about an experiment and Jun called Aiba stupid which caused Aiba to pout. Sho was just laughing at them.

When they noticed Ohno, all three of them looked at him strangely but Ohno just ignored them. When Nino introduced them, Aiba was the only one who greeted him warmly. Sho was quiet for a while as he analyzed Ohno before smiling and shaking his hand. Jun was just quiet and stared at him.

“Ohchan, don’t bother with J. He is jealous that I have a new friend now,”

“No point to be jealous at you. Anyway, I’m going out for a bit. I need to do something,” said Jun as he stood up to leave the compartment. Nino just giggled looking at him as if there was something funny about it. Jun gave him a deadly glare, much worse than the one he gave Ohno but Nino simply ignored him.

“He is a stalker. There is a girl he likes. He must be looking for her,” explained Nino. As the seat next to him was now empty, Nino then lied down on the seat and made Ohno’s lap as his pillow.

“I thought the feeling is mutual. But, both of them are just too shy to admit that they like each other,” Aiba gave his opinion and Sho, who sat next to him, nodded in agreement.

“So, Ohchan, which house are you going to be?” Asked Aiba excitedly. He looked genuinely friendly and Ohno immediately felt at ease with him.

“I would be in the House of Matsumoto,” as he said that, he just realized he will take all of the class with Jun. Thinking of this somehow made him feel worried.

Perhaps noticing his change of expression, Aiba immediately comforted him.

“Ah, you must be worried about Jun. Don’t worry about him. He is a nice guy but sometimes he can be scary,”

“Yeah, just ignore him as I do,” advised Nino. Ohno could only nod but at the same time, he was thinking how could Nino ignored the deadly stare.

“Nino, did the meeting for the council ended late yesterday?” Asked Sho. This is the first time he talked since Ohno was here.

“I don’t know what time it ended but I think it was late. Both of us have to eat dinner in my room,”

“Thought so. Because my father arrived home around 11 yesterday. Do you know what was the meeting for?”

“I don’t know. I want to ask you about it,”

Ohno glanced at Aiba who sat across him. Like him, Aiba was also uninterested with the conversation between Nino and Sho. He was busy scribbling in a notebook. As nothing was interesting for him to do, Ohno ended up sleeping until Nino woke him up softly.

“Ohchan, we’re almost there,” said Nino softly. Ohno opened his eyes slowly to see the beautiful eyes of the young master staring at him. He could feel his cheeks turned red and was relieved when Nino moved away from him.

He wondered how long he had been sleeping. It was almost dark outside. Jun was back in the compartment and he was still as scary as before. Aiba wasn’t writing in his notebook but instead teasing Sho who was reading a book.

“They announced that we will arrive in 20 minutes. When we arrived, there will be a teacher to bring us to our dorm. Then, we will need to go to the Great Hall for Opening Ceremony wearing our uniform,” explained Nino. Ohno simply nodded hearing the explanation.

Soon after, they arrived at an ancient and massive building. It was like the castle Ohno watched in medieval English series. It was really beautiful and Ohno admired the architecture of the building.

When he first stepped on the ground of the school, he felt a sudden wave of energy embracing him. The building looked familiar like he had seen the place before. It’s weird because it’s the first time he came here. But what makes it weirder, he felt as if he had returned home after a long time and for the first time since knowing he was a wizard, he looked forward to living here.


	2. Chapter 2

Nino glanced at Ohno who stood next to him. He was glad to see the happy and content face of Ohno. Even though he looked doubtful when they board the train, but once he arrived in school, Ohno looked happier than Nino to be here. It had to be the magic of Arashi Wizarding School which makes Ohno looked excited and proud to be a wizard.

“Wow, this place is wonderful,” exclaimed Ohno as he beamed with happiness, admiring the beauty of the school. Nino stroke his back, trying to calm him down. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed how Sho, Aiba and Jun looked at them curiously.

Nino understood their curious stare as he thought of the mural painted on his bedroom wall. It was a painting of him and an unknown boy building a sandcastle together. They seemed to be around three years old. Nino didn’t know who painted the mural and who was the mysterious boy in the painting. The other boy’s face wasn’t fully shown. It was only his side profile and when he met Ohno for the first time, he noticed the slight resemblance of Ohno and the mysterious boy. He bet his friend noticed the similarities too and wondering if Ohno was the boy in the painting to explain how close both Ohno and Nino were even though they just met. But, to be honest, he didn’t know why the other boy looked familiar to him. For him, the skinship he did with Ohno was a natural thing to do even though he couldn’t understand why.

“Ohno Kun, Nino, let’s follow Ogura sensei,” said Sho. At the entrance of the school, an old man was instructing the first-year students to gather in their group and follow him to the dorm.

When all of the students were in their group, the old teacher led them inside through the entrance gate. There was a large staircase which led to a hall. Ogura sensei led them inside the hall. All of the students gasped in admiration to see the decorations of the hall. Portraits of the founders could be found hanging on the pillars and the pillars being painted with the colour which symbolized the founders. Portraits of the previous headmaster decorated the wall.

“The school is divided into three main buildings: General, Academic and Residence building. This is the Great Hall of the general building. You will have your dinner for the opening ceremony here at 8 p.m tonight.

“Note the doors on your left and right side as well as in the front,” said Ogura sensei as he indicated the door. The doors on both sides are slightly bigger than the two doors in the front.

“The doors on your left would lead you to the dorm and the one on your right would lead you to your classroom. The left door at the front is prohibited. It is for the teacher and the school staff. You could only enter the door with a teacher. The other door in the front would lead you to the facilities available in the school. It will lead you to the infirmary, Great Library and recreational areas. Of course, there would be a time restriction for you to enter the door. The door is spelt so that it won’t open to you unless it is within the time limit. Unless you are injured and need to stay in the infirmary, the door will automatically teleport you to this hall if you refuse to get out when the time is over,”

Ogura sensei then explained that the academic building is further divided into five sections. When they entered the door on the right of the Great Hall, there would be a corridor which would lead them to the Central building. The general class would take place in the Central Building. There are also cafeteria and study room located in the Central Building. Surrounding the central building would be the building which was specific for each house. Of course, there would be a study room in each of the building as well. Like the previous door, the door was also spelt so that the students could only enter the door during the lesson. If they need to use the classroom outside of the lesson time, they need to obtain written permission from the teacher.

Then, Ogura sensei led them to the left door of the Great Hall. A large river separated the Great Hall and the dorm, and the students need to cross a large stone bridge to get to the other side. When they arrived at the residence building, there were two large building. One of the buildings was for the male students and the other one was for the female students. The entrance gate for each building was spelt which would not allow the male to enter the female residence and vice versa. The female students were then instructed to follow a female teacher who had been waiting for them at the entrance.

The male students were then lead inside their dorm. Dining room, mini library and arcade were located on the first floor. Ogura sensei then explained how the door of their bedroom was spelt so that only the occupants of the room could open the room. Then, they were instructed to find their own room and gathered at the entrance gate at 7:30 pm for the opening ceremony.

Their room was located on the third floor, and a group of manly looking senpai occupied the room next to them. Nino recognized one of them as Nagase Tomoya who happened to be staying in the same neighbourhood. Across them, a group of first-year students occupied the room. One of them looked familiar, maybe because he had seen him in one of the parties in his house. They’re very noisy and from their accent, Nino guessed they’re from Osaka. The noisiest one noticed Nino and immediately stopped talking while looking shy. He smiled at the boy and entered his room and the boy’s cheeks turned redder.

The room was large enough for all five of them. Three beds were arranged on the right side and another two were arranged on the left side. Each bed came with a study table and a closet. A discussion table and a bathroom were at the back of the room.

“Wow, this room is great,” said Nino as he took one of the beds on the left side. Ohno took the one next to him as the others already took the one on the right side.

“Yeah, it’s great. Anyway, do you know why the boy blushed when he saw you?” asked Aiba. Nino recognized the look and shrugged, knowing that Aiba was about to gossip.

“That boy is Maruyama Ryuhei. Yokoyu told me Maru has a crush on you,” said Aiba. Oh, that’s why one of them looked familiar. He must be Aiba’s friend, Yokoyama Yu.

“Ne ne Ohchan. You have to be careful. A lot of boys and girls have a crush on Nino,” when Nino ignored his attempt to gossip, Aiba was trying to get Ohno’s attention instead.

Nino was glad to see Aiba being friendly with Ohno. At least, he was making Ohno comfortable around him. Sho was okay too. As they walked from the General Building to Residence, Sho kindly explained to Ohno about the school. The only problem was Jun. He didn’t stare at Ohno creepily like before but something was indeed bothering him. Nino kept on wondering if it was okay to leave Ohno going to class with Jun tomorrow if Jun still looked as scary as that.

“I’m not surprised. He is cute and nice,” responded Ohno. Nino found himself blushing to hear that and glared at both Sho and Jun who smirked at him.

“No no. It wasn’t because he is cute and nice. It’s because he is the descendant of Ninomiya,”

“But, all of you are the descendants of the founder. What makes founder Ninomiya special?” said Ohno in confusion.

“Yes, but founder Ninomiya is the most powerful. He beat The Stranger,”

“Yes, but founder Ninomiya is the most powerful. He beat The Stranger,” it was Jun who answered instead of Aiba. Ohno was surprised because this was the first time Jun spoke with him.

“The Stranger?” asked Ohno. Suddenly he became interested to know more.

“Yes, The Stranger. You know, bad guys exist in the magical world too. But, The Stranger was the strongest. No one knows his name. He had the most powerful and rare magical ability ever. He could control minds,” explained Jun further.

“We would learn more about him in history class. We didn’t know much. But like J said, The Stranger was one of its kind. It was the darkest moment in the history of the magical world,” said Nino. For some reason, Ohno could feel the high tension in the room when Jun mentioned The Stranger. He was curious to know more about the villain but seeing the uncomfortable look on Nino’s face, he decided to drop the subject.

“Don’t worry too much about The Stranger. The only time wizard lived in fear was during his era, 5000 years ago. We’ve been living in peace ever since Nino’s ancestor defeated him. No one else was born with his magic,” Sho tried to assure him. Ohno simply nodded to indicate he wasn’t interested to know more.

“We have about one hour to get ready. I think I’m going to take a nap,” said Jun as he got himself comfortable on the bed. Aiba and Sho murmured in agreement and soon enough soft snore could be heard.

“Are you going to sleep too? You spent the entire journey here sleeping,” asked Nino as he unpacked his stuff. Ohno shook his head even though he himself was getting comfortable on the bed.

“You’re not sleepy?” asked Ohno. Nino shook his head.

“Nope. I was sleeping on the train as well. Ne, Ohchan, I’m sorry if my friends make you feel uncomfortable,”

“No, it’s okay. Aiba chan is really friendly and Sho was kind enough to explain more about the school to me. But, Jun is a little bit creepy,” 

Nino let out a sigh.

“He wasn’t always like that. So, I wondered why he acted like that to you,”

“Maybe he has a crush on you. That’s why he was jealous to see us together,” suggested Ohno. Suddenly he heard a laugh from Jun. He turned to see Jun laughed at him. Both Aiba and Sho who were sleeping soundly also woke up, looking confused to see Jun laughing.

“I don’t know who gives you the idea but rest assured. I am not interested with that brat,” said Jun while still laughing. “And, please chat quietly. Both of you disturbed my nap time. I cannot sleep hearing your conversation,”

“Ohchan, didn’t I tell you that J likes another girl? Why would you think he likes me?” said Nino joining the laughter. Ohno scratched his head as he remembered the way Jun glared at Nino on the train.

“Well, I wouldn’t blame Ohno Kun. You’re the one who suddenly acted like a jealous girlfriend. I would think the same way if I’m in Ohno Kun’s place,” said Sho, defending Ohno. Jun stopped laughing and smiling softly at Ohno.

“I’m sorry about the way I behaved just now. I’m just trying to think if we’ve met each other before. You kinda look familiar. As I was thinking about where we could have met, I ended up staring at you,”

“You were not just staring. You looked like you want to eat Ohchan,” said Nino as he pulled Ohno to sit next to him. Next, he gestured for Ohno to put his head on his lap. Ohno followed obediently and Nino started to play with his hair.

“There. I never see you being overly attached to someone you just met. Do you realize that both of you act like a couple? You guys looked more lovey-dovey than Sho and Aiba,” remarked Jun. Sho and Aiba suddenly turned red. Now that Jun mentioned it, Ohno realized that Sho and Aiba indeed looked like they’re dating.

“Why do you have to drag us into this?” said Sho. His face turned red and so did Aiba’s. But he recovered quickly as he added “Oh, the reason you think Ohno Kun looked familiar is because of the painting in Nino’s room. The side profile of the boy looked like Ohno Kun,” Both Jun and Aiba simultaneously said ‘Ah’ as they remembered the mural.

Looking at their reaction, Nino rolled his eyes in disbelief.

“You didn’t realize, J? I already expected Aiba would not notice the similarities but I am surprised to know you didn’t notice it too. You make me disappointed with you,” said Nino dramatically. Jun rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at Nino. Aiba also did the same when he noticed Nino was mocking him as well. Nino, being childish, threw the pillow back to both Jun and Aiba. He even threw the pillow to Sho even though he wasn’t involved earlier. Somehow, all four of them ended up having a pillow fight.

Ohno tried to remember the painting in Nino’s room. He didn’t remember how the other boy looked like because he only focused on Nino. No wonder Nino looked like he realized something when he asked about the drawing. He was so deep in his thought that he didn’t realize the other four were targeting him as their victim.

“Ouch,” screamed Ohno when four pillows hit him. He blinked confusedly at the other four, not understanding why they hit him.

“Ah, gomen ne, Ohchan. We didn’t mean to hit you. Nino was the one who suggested it,” said Aiba pointing at Nino. Nino who felt dissatisfied to be blamed by Aiba glared at him. Ohno knew his new friends were just trying to make him join the fun and threw a pillow at Nino. Nino pretended to be angry before lightly smacked him. He returned the smack and it turned into a wrestle between him and Nino. Aiba decided to join the fun between the two shorties. He put himself on top of them and laughing when the two shorties tickled him. Sho and Jun just shook their head, laughing to see the childish behaviour of their friends.

Ohno glad he decided to join the school. He had never felt happier to have friends before this. He was glad Nino became his first friend and introduced him to the other three. They were having so much fun fooling around that if Sho didn’t remember that they have an opening ceremony to go, they would definitely miss the occasion.


	3. Chapter 3

“How I wish that I could apparate to the class right now,” complained Nino.

Today is their first day of class. Thankfully, the opening ceremony ended early yesterday. The ceremony was boring with the headmaster warned them not to be naughty and follow the rules. But, the food was tasty. So, Nino would give an extra mark for that.

“Too bad that you could only learn apparition in your third year. Even so, you are not allowed to apparate in school,” explained Sho. They had just finished their breakfast in the dining room.

“Then, what’s the point of learning apparition? Ah, I’m so tired. J, carry me to class,” said Nino as he leaned closer to Jun who chase him away.

“Nino, even though you’re small, it doesn’t mean you’re not heavy. I don’t want to waste my energy carrying you. Why don’t you ask your  _ Ohchan _ ?” Jun deliberately mocking the way Nino called Ohno with his high pitched voice. Ohno, who was discussing something with Aiba enthusiastically, stared at them in confusion when his name was mentioned. Nino was glad that Ohno looked comfortable to be with them now thanks to their pillow fight and wrestling session yesterday.

“No way.  _ Ohchan  _ is about the same size as me. I don’t think he would be able to carry me,” Nino deliberately stressed the way he called Ohno to correct Jun’s pronunciation. “Anyway, what are both of you talking about?”

Aiba grinned at Nino to hear that. Nino had a bad feeling seeing Aiba’s smile as it must be something to do with his experiment. Aiba loved to conduct experiments but none of them is willing to help him because it was pointless. Who would want to know if pepper could help you breathe underwater or if you could walk on the water using plastic or if a recorder, lotus root and chikuwa could be used to drink juice? Aiba even proposed to conduct an experiment to see if a human could fly using balloons. Come to think of it, his experiments were not only futile, but it could be dangerous too. Geez, this boy is a wizard, but why did he love to do a  _ scientific  _ experiment?

Now, he had found a perfect candidate to help him with his experiment. Poor Ohno. The boy didn’t know what kind of stupid experiment Aiba would suggest and seeing that Ohno didn’t have the heart to reject Aiba’s offer, it could be a disaster for Ohno. Nino should warn Ohno about Aiba’s dangerous experiment.

“Ohchan wants to help me with my mirror man experiment. He said that my idea to make an invisible man using a mirror is brilliant,” said Aiba enthusiastically and Ohno nodded in agreement. Nino, Sho and Jun rolled their eyes, couldn’t believe someone would think Aiba’s experiment was brilliant.

“Aiba, if you want to be invisible, I’m sure that there is a spell that you could use. You don’t need to experiment with mirror,” advised Sho but Aiba just pouted, a usual reaction they see whenever Sho tried to talk to him about his experiment.

“I don’t think Aiba wants to be invisible. He simply wants to know if we could use a mirror to be invisible,” said Ohno, defending Aiba. Aiba grinned again to have someone supporting him.

“But, it could be dangerous. Not to mention, it was pointless because we already know it is impossible,” Nino try to debate with Ohno but Ohno simply shook his head, disagree with him.

“How do you know it’s impossible if you don’t try? I don’t think it is useless or dangerous. I’m sure Aiba will take precaution to ensure its safety. Besides, it’s not like Aiba is asking you to join the experiment. You don’t have to join if you don’t want,” argued Ohno. Nino sighed as he noticed a few students were looking at their direction.

“Fine. But, I want to join the experiment too. I want to laugh at you guys when the experiment fails,” said Nino, knowing that there’s no way Ohno would change his mind. He didn’t expect Ohno could be stubborn when he appeared to be gullible.

“Okay, now stop arguing. If you keep arguing, we will be late to Magical Law class. I heard Miyama sensei is quite eccentric. Who knows what will he do to us if we’re late. Furthermore, we don’t want to tarnish our reputation as the descendants,” Sho urged them to walk faster realizing the time. Nino rolled his eyes at Sho, couldn’t believe that Sho would think of their reputation of all things.

Contrary to Sho’s belief, they arrived early at the class. There were only a few people in the class. One of them was Inoue Mao who happened to be Jun’s crush. She sat alone in the centre row. Nino chuckled as both Jun and Mao turned red when they noticed each other. He gave Aiba and Sho a knowing look while Ohno remained oblivious.

He dragged Ohno to sit beside him, which is in front of Mao. Sho and Aiba took a seat in the front. Much to his surprise, Jun followed him and sat next to Mao. He loved to see the way Mao blushed when Jun sat next to her.

“Ready to confess?” Nino started to tease the other guy. Ohno let out a soft ‘Ah’, perhaps because he finally knew who the girl was.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Mao-chan, I hope you don’t mind I’m sitting here. I think this is the best position to sit,” said Jun and Mao simply nodded.

“It’s okay, J. I understand if you want to take your time,” Nino still teased him. Jun glared at him, as usual, but he already immune to the glare.

“Anyway, where are the rest of your group?” Asked Nino, decided to leave Jun alone. It’s weird to see Mao without her group members because everyone else was with their group.

“Oh, I’m not sure. I left early this morning. I went to the library to do some reading,” said Mao. Nino was surprised to know someone else was nerdier than Sho. If Mao is in the same House as Sho, they will be the best buddy for studying. But, based on her uniform, Mao would be in the House of Ninomiya.

“Wow, I never thought that you are nerdier than Sho. The first day of class and you’re already going to the library,” Nino complimented the girl who lowered her head. “Anyway, do you know anyone else who would be in the House of Ninomiya?”

“Ah, I just know Erika will be in the same house because she is in my group. I’m not sure about anyone else,” answered Mao. Nino nodded, remembering Toda Erika whom he knew because of their parents. She often comes to Nino’s house and Nino enjoyed her company. He heard rumours from Aiba that Erika is interested in him but he was sure it wasn’t true.

Nino enjoyed the obvious look of jealousy on Jun’s face to see how Mao was more relaxed to chat with him than with Jun. After all, he knew Mao first before Jun met her. She was the daughter of his mother’s best friend. She often came to their house before she lived in London for a couple of years. She just got back to Japan recently. She used to fight a lot with Jun when they were kids but when they reunited a couple of months ago, they’ve become awkward with each other.

However, he didn’t realize someone else was looking at him with jealousy as well until he heard a groan next to him. It was the first time he saw Ohno in a bad mood and of course, Jun used the chance to tease him. Because of the tease, things somehow turned awkward between him and Ohno. He immediately turned to the front, waiting for the teacher to arrive and getting ready to have his first formal education in magic.

  
  
  
  
  


Ohno pouted involuntarily when Nino ignored him and kept on talking with the girl named Mao. He didn’t know if Nino deliberately did this as a revenge for their dispute this morning, or if he wanted to annoy Jun or if he was interested with the girl. He hoped it wasn’t because of the last reason. He was in a bad mood thinking about it that he didn’t realize he was groaning, earning the attention of the other three students.

“Nino, look at what you did? Ignoring your boyfriend and talk to another girl. You’re making him jealous,” said Jun in a mocking tone. Ohno could see he was enjoying the moment to tease Nino, especially when the latter blushed even though it lasted only for a moment.

“I’m sorry, Ohchan. I’m just enjoying myself, watching J getting jealous,”

“So, he is your boyfriend. No wonder both of you looked lovey-dovey during the ceremony yesterday. But, I’ve never seen him before,”

“He is not my boyfriend. We’re just close, like a best friend. Anyway, this is Ohno. Ohno, this is Mao,” Nino hastily introduced both of them. Ohno smiled a little at Mao. He couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed to hear the denial from Nino but he didn’t understand why. It couldn’t be because he was hoping Nino would be his boyfriend, right?

“Aww, too bad. Both of you looked super cute together,”

“Right, Mao-chan? They looked so cute together,” said Jun, agreeing with Mao.

“But, I think Ohno san looked familiar. Have we met before?” Ohno simply shrugged it off, thinking that Mao recognized him from the painting in Nino’s room. Nino awkwardly turned to the front, not wanting to join the conversation any longer. Ohno followed suit and soon after, a young handsome man entered the class.

Ohno assumed the young man is Miyama sensei, their teacher for Magical Law. The teacher began the class by introducing himself and then started asking them the need for having a law in the magical world.

“Learning magic isn’t about knowing how to practice them only, you also need to know the rules. The rules are made to protect our existence from Non-Magical Folk, which is known as NMF. If NMF knows of our existence, it may disturb the peace of the world. We could inflict fear in them, like the way it happened 5000 years ago,” explained Miyama sensei. This has to be related to The Stranger that Jun talked about yesterday. Again, Ohno was curious to know more about The Stranger. He wondered if their History of Magic teacher will talk about The Stranger in their first class tomorrow.

“I bet most of you would know that in the past, we were in a war with a wizard known as The Stranger. He was the most powerful wizard ever alive with his ability to control the mind. He believed that as a wizard, we are superior to NMF and tried to control the world. Of course, a group of people agreed with his ideology and that’s how the war happened. We fought a losing battle until founder Ninomiya finally defeated him,” Miyama sensei looked straight at Nino, who once again looked uncomfortable to hear the name.

“I’m telling you that even though we live in peace now, there are still supporters for The Stranger. They’re waiting for a wizard who was born with the same ability as The Stranger and believe me, they will try to conquer the world again. Well, you will learn more about him in your history class so now let’s get started for our class,” said Miyama sensei. Ohno noticed how he was giving a dark look at the descendants of the founder, especially to Nino. Ohno was worried to see how Nino lowered his head as if he was embarrassed. Wasn’t Nino the descendant of Ninomiya? Instead of looking embarrassed, shouldn’t he look proud because it was his ancestor that defeated the villain?

They had charms next. The teacher was a small cute guy named Yamada Taro. He was pretty awkward in teaching but the class was interesting, nevertheless. For charms, they would learn various spells that would help them in daily life. Pronunciation is very important in conjuring the spell. They could hurt themselves if they didn’t say the spell correctly. They started the class by trying a simple spell to make a feather floats.

Ohno was happy to see Nino returned to his normal self by being bratty again. He preferred to see the adorable smile and mischievous eyes of his friend rather than seeing a quiet Nino. He enjoyed the look on Nino’s face whenever Aiba screw up the spell and caused something else to happen instead. In fact, most of the time, Aiba ended up burning the feather, instead of making it float.

“I’m telling you, you didn’t say it right,” Nino laughed, making fun at Aiba for burning the feather for the fifth time. Aiba was dissatisfied and challenged Nino to float the feather. Unfortunately for Aiba, Nino’s feather managed to float. Ohno couldn’t help but loving the way Nino smirk when he successfully floated the feather.

On the other hand, Nino somehow tried to minimize the skinship between both of them as he helped Ohno with the spell. However, Ohno couldn’t help but missing those touches so he ended up initiating the skinship between them. Nino was reluctant at first but before the class ended, they have attached like glue again. Before he knew it, Nino had started to grope his butt, earning a disapproving look from both Jun and Sho and giggle from Aiba and the rest of the class. Of course, a few were looking at him with jealousy, for example, Maruyama Ryuhei, whom according to Aiba, had a crush on Nino. But, the worst glare is from a girl who is in the same house as Nino. Ohno wasn’t sure what was her name but she seems quite close with Nino.

They had their lunch break next. However, Sho didn’t join them for lunch, saying he wasn’t hungry and would need to do some reading in the library. Aiba followed him and so, only Ohno, Nino and Jun were eating lunch together.

After lunch, they had a speciality training class. Ohno voiced out his worries that he didn’t know what his speciality is and yet he was placed in the House of Matsumoto. But both Nino and Jun reassured him that it was normal if he didn’t know his speciality yet. For the case like this, the young wizard would be placed in the former house of his parents as the speciality magic run in the family. If both parents were from a different house, there was a spell conjured by a strong wizard, for example, Kitagawa sensei to determine their speciality magic. The spell would also be conjured for young wizards from NMF.

“Do you mean, it was possible for a wizard to have two speciality magic if he was born from parents with different speciality?” asked Ohno. But both Nino and Jun shook their head.

“It wasn’t possible. Each wizard was born with only one speciality magic. It was just that the speciality magic will be stronger if it comes from both parents. That’s why some wizards tend to marry a person with the same speciality magic to ensure they have a strong wizard in their family,” explained Jun. Ohno nodded his head while at the same time thinking of something else. Both of them told him that speciality magic runs in the family. When he thought about that, maybe The Stranger had a child who was born with his speciality as a mind controller. Perhaps the descendants of The Stranger were waiting for the right moment to cause the war as he did 5000 years ago. After all, Miyama sensei told them that there are still supporters for The Stranger. He wanted to ask more about The Stranger but remembering how uncomfortable Nino was whenever The Stranger was mentioned, he pushed the question away. He would do some reading or ask Sho about it later.

  
  
  
  
  
  


It had been five minutes since Nino separated from Ohno to go to their speciality training class and he already missed the other boy. He wasn’t going to deny that  _ perhaps  _ he was attracted to Ohno even though he didn’t understand why. Maybe because of Ohno’s docile personality.

That’s why he tried to minimize the skinship between them. He was afraid that maybe Ohno was uncomfortable with the skinship or the rumours about them. However, as Ohno was the one who initiated the skinship in Charms, he decided to ignore the rumours. If Ohno was happy with the skinship, he will continue caressing or groping Ohno regardless of what others might think of them. He couldn’t deny that he was hoping Ohno liked him in the same way that  _ maybe _ he liked Ohno.

When he arrived in the classroom, the class was practically empty except for a young man sitting on the teacher’s table. But, there was something strange about the class. It was empty but he could hear faint noises like people were talking in the room.

“Sensei, where is everyone else?” Asked Nino. He assumed the young man would be his teacher. He was a handsome man with wavy black hair. Perhaps it was his imagination as it happened in a split second, but he noticed the teacher was surprised to see him.

“Apparently, you’re the first to arrive,” replied the teacher.

“But, I think I could hear other voices. In fact, I think I heard Mao and Erika talking,” said Nino in confusion. The mysterious teacher smirked at him before concentrating on doing something. All of the sudden, the noise became louder and Nino turned around to see other students in the classroom looking at him in awe.

“Congratulations, young man. You’re the first to realize that there was something wrong with my classroom. As a student in House of Ninomiya, you are an illusionist. Therefore, you have to be alert with your surrounding. You would make mistake when creating an illusion and you need to notice the flaw in your illusion before your enemy does. Illusions are made to manipulate your enemy and if you didn’t notice the flaw in your illusion, your enemy will win. For example, I’m trying to make the classroom looked empty but I  _ forget  _ to minimize the noise other students may make. If you’re alert and noticed the noise, you will know something is wrong with my illusion. I should give credit to this boy to notice the flaw,” explained the teacher. All of the students clapped their hands and Nino puffed his chest, proud to be complimented. He had to thank his gaming experience for sharpening his senses and made him alert to his surrounding. At the same time, he was relieved that he didn’t screw up on his first day and perform up to the expectation as the descendant of founder Ninomiya. He silently thought that it will be okay to screw up in other class but not for his speciality class as it will be embarrassing.

“What’s your name, young man?” Asked the teacher. Nino scratched his head. It was the first time he met someone who didn’t recognize him. Ohno was a different story because he didn’t grow up in magical surrounding. But, this man should be a wizard long enough to be his teacher. He should be familiar with his family.

“Ninomiya Kazunari,” answered Nino timidly. The teacher smiled at him.

“Ah, as expected from a Ninomiya. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you earlier. You may sit with the rest of your friends,” said the teacher. Nino noticed that all of the tables and chairs were pushed at the back of the class and all of the students were sitting on the floor. He took a seat next to a guy he never met before, waiting for further instructions from the mysterious teacher.

“My name is Takuya Kimura and you may call me Kimura sensei,” the mysterious teacher introduced himself. All of the students gasped in surprise. Kimura sensei was indeed famous because he was the ace for the younger generation of House of Ninomiya. He was one of the best illusionists ever alive. He was offered a job in Ministry of Magic but he refused to accept and decided to teach instead. Even though he was famous, he kept a lower profile and unless you’re in school, you would not know how he looked like. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t see the teacher in the ceremony yesterday. It’s either he didn’t join or he made himself invisible or he used another face during the ceremony.

“Is this your real face?” Asked Nino without thinking. Kimura sensei smiled at him.

“I don’t know, you will decide that. Anyway, we will start the class with something basic, which is, to change the feature of your face. Unlike the popular belief which said that the students in House of Ninomiya are shapeshifters, we’re not transforming to someone else. We’re basically creating an illusion which makes people believe we’re someone else,” said Kimura sensei and then he demonstrated this by changing his face to Kitagawa sensei and Ogura sensei. All of the students clapped their hands in amazement to see how easily he did the illusion.

“As I said before, the most important thing is to be alert. You have to pay attention even for the smallest details, for example, the position of the moles,” again, Kimura sensei demonstrated this by changing to Nino. However, Nino’s mole was in the opposite position and slightly higher than the real one.

“Ninomiya san, please come in front,” Nino followed the instruction and stood next to the teacher. “I want all of you to close your eyes and opened it when I said ready,”

All of the students followed his instruction. He then asked Nino to switch places with him. Next, by changing his voice into Nino’s voice, Kimura sensei asked the students to open their eyes and identify the real Nino. Nino thought this would be an easy task considering that Kimura sensei change the position of his mole. However, he was confused when his classmates stared at both them, not knowing which one was the real one. He carefully glanced at Kimura sensei next to him and noticed that the teacher changed the position of the mole to the correct one.

“Eh, I’m pretty sure his mole was wrong before this. But, now, they’re the same,” said one of his classmate, the one who sat near Nino before this. The others murmured in agreement and kept on staring at them, trying to find the difference. Some made a lucky guess but Kimura sensei ignore them, perhaps because they didn’t give him the reason.

“Ah, sensei,” Mao raised her hand timidly. “The one on the right is the real Nino. The difference is the eyes. Nino has brown eyes and yours is black,”

Kimura sensei smiled at Mao and changed back to his original face. Everyone was clapping their hands, compliment Mao for being able to identify the real Nino.

“Good job, young lady. May I know your name?”

“Inoue Mao,”

Kimura sensei smiled softly at Mao. Most of the girls (if not all) would fall head over heels with the teacher by looking at the smile. Heck, maybe even the guys would feel the same. No wonder he was famous. He wasn’t only talented, but his class was interesting. His cool and mysterious aura made him looked more attractive. No doubt, this class would become Nino’s favourite despite not having Ohno in the class. If Ohno was here, it would be more interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

Ohno sighed again. He didn’t know how many times he sighed in the class today. Katori sensei had instructed them to create a water ball. However, no matter how many times he tried, it’s hard to maintain the water ball he created. To do so, he had to imagine pouring the water into a spherical container. It was already difficult to form the water into a ball and it wasn’t even in a perfect shape. However, when he managed to do so, it will dissolve in less than two minutes.

It was the third week of class. He enjoyed his speciality training class the most even though it was the most difficult. At least, they’re doing something instead of listening to boring lecture like his Magical Law and History of Magic class. The teacher is nice. In their first week of class, he explained the characteristics of each element and how each student need to understand the elements to be able to control them. Then, he started the training. When they started the training, Katori sensei would only be at the beginning of the class before he left them to practice on their own. He will come from time to time to check on their progress.

“Ah,” he heard Jun groaned in front of him. Just like him, Jun’s water ball dissolved back into the bowl prepared by the teacher. He could only smile, understanding the frustration that Jun felt.

“Why don’t you switch to another element? Maybe you could do better,” suggested Ohno. In their first class, Katori sensei made a test to determine which element responds to them. Ohno was nervous during the water test because he failed for fire, wind and earth element. He started to think that maybe he wasn’t a wizard at all and the school made a mistake sending him his letter of acceptance. He couldn’t describe how happy he was when finally, water responds to him. It proved he is a wizard after all.

Unlike him, Jun passed all the element test along with a few other students. The rest passed at least two tests. Ohno was the only one who passed a test only. All the students except him can choose which element they want to learn first. He was jealous to think that they may switch to another element if their first choice didn’t work for them.

“I guess it will be the same,” said Jun as he observed the class. Ohno did the same and nodded in agreement as he noticed how the other students were no different from them. The fire students were assigned to light and extinguish the flame at will. The wind students need to float in the air and the earth students were assigned to move small pebbles.

“So, how was your study date with Nino yesterday?” asked Jun as he rested comfortably in his seat. It didn’t seem like he was going to resume his training.

“It wasn’t a date and as usual, nothing happened. We just do our homework in silence,” answered Ohno and Jun smirked as if he didn’t believe him. Well, both Ohno and Nino had become closer and often spent time together. He didn’t know since when, but, now, they shared the bed. Instead of sleeping on his own bed, Nino used it to put his stuff. Of course, their roommates had a mixed reaction about that. Aiba was encouraging them, Jun and Sho were teasing them even though sometimes they complained about it. Now, they didn’t say anything about it and just accept that Nino will never sleep on his own bed anymore.

“Is the brat up to something?” asked Jun, suddenly became serious. Ohno only shook his head.

“Really? The brat isn’t the type to study in the library,” said Jun in return while appeared to be thinking about something. Ohno tried hard to remain expressionless, afraid Jun will notice he was hiding something. He also had the same thought as Jun. He realized there was something that bothered Nino. Both of them will go to the mini-library in their dorm and do their homework in silence. He will ask Nino if he had any problems with the homework. On the other hand, Nino will try to finish his homework as quickly as he can and then when he completed the homework, he will leave Ohno alone to wander off in the library. Nino will get back to him before the curfew and looked disappointed.

One day, Ohno was having trouble in his homework and tried to find Nino to ask for help. He found Nino in the History section, reading a book. Nino’s hand covered the title so he didn’t know what book Nino was reading. His friend was mumbling something that sounded like, ‘is she even real?’ as he read the book. As Nino was too preoccupied on reading the book, Ohno couldn’t bring himself to bother Nino to help with his homework. Fortunately, he bumped into Sho who offered to help him instead. Sho might have realized there was something wrong with Nino and told Jun about it. Sho himself was a frequent visitor to the library even though he seldom studied with them. Instead, he made a study group with other students. Aiba was the only one among them who was interested to join the study group.

“Ah, you definitely know something,” remarked Jun and Ohno blinked his eyes, wondering how Jun knew it. Did he show it in his face?

“Do you know why you never win against me, Nino and Sho when we play babanuki?” asked Jun. Ohno shook his head, thinking if there’s a connection between what they were talking about and babanuki.

“When you have the Joker, your nose will move. That’s why we know you tried to hide that you have it. So, when I saw your nose moves just now, I know you’re hiding something,” explained Jun. Ohno looked baffled. He didn’t even know he had that habit. Oh, so, that’s why he kept losing to Jun, Nino and Sho. He could only win against Aiba. For some reason, the joker really loves to stay with Aiba.

“So, what did Nino do in the library?” asked Jun and Ohno told him everything.

“Her? Well, Sho didn’t hear him mumbling. I wonder who he is searching for,”

“I don’t know. Maybe an important woman in history,” said Ohno though he had another hunch. At first, Ohno thought Nino was researching about The Stranger, judging from the way his expression will immediately harden whenever someone mentioned the name. However, it wasn’t consistent with what he heard Nino mumbled in the library. Unless The Stranger was actually a woman. But, all records seemed to indicate that The Stranger is a man. 

“Well, I will ask him myself. You don’t mind if I interrupt your study date, right?” asked Jun and Ohno nodded his head. He wanted to ask Nino himself but he didn’t want Nino to think of him as a nosy person.

“I think both of you should stop talking. Katori sensei will be here soon,” their conversation was interrupted by another boy named Kazama. They thanked him for the reminder. Katori sensei wasn’t strict but it will be bad if they weren’t training when he entered the classroom. Once again, Ohno sighed looking at the bowl while thinking if he could make it work this time.

Suddenly, a crazy idea formed in his head. He wanted to try even though he knew it won’t work. How could his crazy idea works when he couldn’t even do a simple task of creating a water ball? The others wouldn’t even know what he was doing because they will think he was just concentrating on his task.

Without expecting anything, he closed his eyes and imagined Nino’s face with water flowing through his face. He tried to remember every single detail of Nino’s face; the curve of his chin, his eyebrow, his ear, his mischievous eyes, his button nose, his thin lips, a mole on his chin, his black hair, his innocent smile. Everything. Wow, this was even easier than imagining a spherical container.

However, his imagination stopped when he heard people gasped and started talking. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see what’s in front of him. A water-Nino, just like what he imagined, was smiling at him innocently. Eh, did he really create that? He turned to look at everyone who was staring at the water-Nino. They admire his work before it dissolved back into the bowl.

“Impressive, Ohno-Kun,” he heard Katori sensei’s voice. He didn’t look angry even though Ohno didn’t do his task as instructed. Katori sensei patted his back before added. “We’ll see how you do tomorrow. I guess it’s easier to imagine your boyfriend than a spherical container,”

The teacher winked at him. The female students started to giggle followed by a burst of loud laughter by the male students. Ohno must be blushing right now. Thanks to his crazy idea, this is one of the most embarrassing moments in his life.

  
  
  
  
  
  


“NINO!” called Aiba in a loud voice while waving his hand on the top of Nino’s homework. Nino lifted his face from his book and glared at the boy who sat in front of him. Of course, he heard Aiba called for him since before but he was too busy doing his homework for Magical Law to respond. He needed to finish this as soon as he can so he only has to do the History of Magic essay after dinner today. He cannot waste time listening to Aiba babbling. There are a lot of books to be read today.

“What do you want?” he asked Aiba as polite as he could, though he could hear how irritated his tone of voice is.

Nino and Aiba were waiting for their friends to finish their speciality training class. As usual, he was the first one to finish the class and wait for his friends in the cafeteria while doing his homework. They would have their tea time before heading back to the dorm. Sho would always be the last one to arrive because he stayed after his class ended to ask a question or two.

“Don’t be angry,” replied Aiba before continuing. “I think something happened in Matsujun’s and Ohchan’s class today. Every student from his house would whisper and giggle when they saw you,”

Nino frowned in response and started to look around the cafeteria. Just like Aiba said, they were looking at him and whispering something before giggling. He looked at the door waiting for Jun to arrive. If something happened in Ohno’s class and it involved him, there would be no other culprit.

As he expected, when Jun walked into the cafeteria with Ohno, he was trying to suppress his laugh. On the other hand, Ohno’s face was red and became redder when a group of female students giggled when they walked past him. It seems like the students in House of Matsumoto already told the other students what happened in their class today.

“J, what did you do to Ohchan today? Why is everyone giggling when they looked at me and Ohchan?” said Nino immediately when Jun sat next to Aiba. He narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips to show how angry he was with Jun for teasing Ohno. However, instead of answering, the boy laughed at him and Ohno lowered his head even more. Now, even his ears are red.

“J...” said Nino, trying again to look angry but Jun laughed even more. He looked at Aiba in confusion wondering why it’s so funny. Aiba looked just as confused as he was.

“You don’t look scary, Nino so I’m not afraid. In fact, it looks funny and that’s why I laughed,” said Jun when he finally stopped laughing. “However, I’m not responsible for whatever that happened in the class. It’s Ohno who embarrassed himself…” Nino turned to look at Ohno who refused to meet his gaze before turning back to Jun who added “… even though I think he was really amazing in the class just now,”

Nino and Aiba became even more curious to hear that.

“Ohno-Kun… is it true…” Sho, who had just arrived, took a seat next to Ohno “I overheard those girls talking. They said you make a water-Nino in the class just now. Is it true?”

Nino’s eyes became wide to hear that. He was really surprised. He didn’t expect that at all. He looked at Ohno who refused to look at anyone, especially Nino. Looking at his reaction, it proved that what Sho just told them is true, especially when Jun smiled teasingly at him.

“Ohno Kun, I seriously don’t think it was something to be embarrassed about. You are really cool, even Katori sensei said so…” said Jun and Ohno lifted his head to look at him “…and it proves how much you think about Nino,” said Jun and he laughed again, making Ohno pouted in response. Nino smiled looking Ohno’s cute reaction. Well, he would admit it was embarrassing because it somehow implied there’s something between them. It’s true, he felt something for Ohno and would be happy if Ohno felt the same way for him. However, he didn’t want to think about it yet. Not until he can clear the doubt he had in his mind.

“Stop teasing me. I just had the crazy idea and thought of doing it. I didn’t expect it to work,”

“Well…” Sho started “Magic is often associated with your feeling. For example, if someone is afraid to use his magic, it would be harder for him to control his magic. In your case, you’re excited with the idea of creating water-Nino and your excitement is channelled to your magic. That’s why your crazy idea works. Please don’t take me the wrong way, I don't mean you’re not excited to make the water ball but maybe it wasn’t at the same level of excitement to see the water-Nino,”

“Ah, I’m hungry,” exclaimed Aiba suddenly followed by the sound of everyone’s stomach growling. “I’m going to eat first,” he added as he stood up and walked to the food table.

“Please take the sandwich for me too,” he shouted to Aiba and pouted when Aiba stuck his tongue out at him.

“I’ll take it for you. Do you want anything else?” Asked Ohno and he shook his head. Ohno left the table with Sho, leaving only Jun and Nino at the table.

“Are you working on the homework from Miyama sensei?” Asked Jun and Nino only nodded his head. He hoped Jun would understand that he didn’t want anyone to disturb him.

“But…” He heard Jun started talking and he clicked his tongue in annoyance but Jun ignored him and keep on talking “…we still have three days before it’s due. Why are you in a hurry to do it?”

“Because I don’t want to procrastinate. I have time, so, I will do it now rather than later. I don’t want my homework to pile up,” answered Nino. Of course, that wasn’t the truth but it was reasonable. He wanted to be ahead in his homework so it won’t distract him from doing his research. Research on the history of the wizarding world.

The history, as he knew, was like this. The school was founded by the four famous founders. Each of them came from a different NMF village. Knowing they’re different from others, they began a journey to find their true self. They met accidentally in a forest which later became the site for Arashi Wizarding School. When they knew each of them had different magic, they tried to find others who were like them and gathered them in a school. Among all the people they gathered, they were the best in controlling their magic. So, they taught others how to control their magic and embrace it.

The founders preached to their students to stay hidden and never use their magic in front of NMF. They weren’t aware that among their student, there was a man with high ambition. He didn’t want the wizard to stay hidden but to live freely and to show themselves to the NMF. He believed that as a wizard, they should rule the world. Those people without magic should be their servant. The name of the man was never mentioned in history but he was known as The Stranger.

Like the others, he came from an NMF village. However, the villagers were well aware of how different he was than them. So, they tortured him. When he finally escaped from the village, he swore vengeance to those who called him a freak and make fun of him because of what he could do.

The Stranger was known to have the magic to control the water element. He didn’t appear to be strong nor dangerous because he hid his true magic. They didn’t know he had another speciality magic, which is, to control the mind. How he acquired two different types of magic was still a mystery.

He finally showed his true colours after ten years in school. He used the time to enhance his magic while at the same time to find the weaknesses of the four founders. Behind their back, he raised forces to go against the founders, to gain supporters of his ideology. When he felt he was strong enough to control the four founders, he executed his plan. He used them to terrorize the NMF community. Those founders, who were so powerful, looked like a puppet when they followed his order. They were not even aware of what they were doing.

Or, that’s what The Stranger thought. He didn’t realize the loophole in his plan, which is, Founder Ninomiya. He underestimated the true extent of Founder Ninomiya’s magic. It’s because, among the four founders, Founder Ninomiya seems to be the weakest and seldom use his magic. Little did he knew about Founder Ninomiya’s true self. Founder Ninomiya appeared to be the most innocent and gullible person. But, he was actually a sly person.

The Stranger’s magic was to read mind and control people like a puppet. Founder Ninomiya’s magic was to create an illusion. When creating the illusion, it involves tricking the mind to believe in something which is not real. Because he kept on creating the illusion, he had a strong mind to differentiate between reality and illusion. So, when he felt a force trying to control him, he knew something was wrong. However, he didn’t rush to take any action. He waited to know what The Stranger was after, to know his real plan, to know The Stranger’s strength and weakness. As a cunning person, he was able to trick The Stranger to believe he was under his control. However, his bluff was almost exposed because of the mind-reading ability of The Stranger. He had the upper hand in the situation because The Stranger was too arrogant to think he can control him. Knowing there’s nothing he could do to change The Stranger and how important it was for the wizards to stay hidden, he had no choice but to kill him by trapping The Stranger in the illusion of his worst nightmare. None of the historical records ever show what The Stranger’s worst nightmare was, though.

Well, he believed that story was true until he discovered a secret recently.

He was looking forward to coming to school and one of the reason was that he wanted a distraction from thinking about the secret. However, he wasn’t distracted at all and it kept bugging him. That’s why he decided to do some reading in the library to put his mind at ease. He had finished reading all the related books in the mini library but it wasn’t helpful at all. He’s going to try the book in Great Library today and hopefully he will get his answer.

He noticed how Jun was staring at him like he didn’t believe him at all. He didn’t care. He knew that his friends noticed he was hiding something from them. He didn’t mind telling them about the secret. Maybe they could help him find the truth. But, as none of them asked him anything about that, he will keep the secret to himself for now.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Jun loved the way Nino pouted when he said he’s going to join them in the library today.

“Don’t be mad, Nino. It’s too boring to stay in the room alone,”

“You can join Aiba and Sho’s study group,” argued Nino but Jun shook his head. He tried to smile innocently to show he had no hidden intention even though it’s futile. Nino knew why he wanted to join them.

He didn’t know since when he suspected Nino was hiding something from them. It was actually normal to see Nino working hard on something but usually, it’s because he didn’t want something to interfere with his routine. When Jun first saw Nino doing his homework while eating, he thought it was because he wanted to finish it quickly so it won't interrupt his gaming schedule. But, he immediately knew that wasn’t the case when Nino left  _ all  _ of his gaming devices when he went for the study date with Ohno. So, he guessed maybe it’s because he wanted to spend more time with Ohno. However, when he heard from Aiba and Sho how Nino left Ohno alone to read books, he knew something was wrong.

So, here is what he thought. If Nino left both of them to read the book during the study date, it means he wouldn’t mind telling them what he’s looking for but if he stayed with them in the library, it means he didn’t want them to know what he is looking for. He figured that Nino dared to leave Ohno alone because he knew Ohno won’t ask. It would be a different story for Jun.

His mind drifted, thinking of the possible thing that bothered Nino. The only clues he had were a female and history. As Ohno said before, maybe Nino was trying to look for information about an important woman in history. But, who could it be? There’re a lot of women mentioned in the history book.

He tried to think about it from another perspective. Trying to think if Nino acted strangely for other things. That's when a thought flashed in his mind. Of course! Why couldn’t he think of this before?

“J, are you coming?” He’s a bit lost when he heard Nino’s voice asking him. He looked at both Nino and Ohno who were waiting for him at the door with their bag.

“Oh, yes, I’m coming,” said Jun when he realized what Nino was talking about and quickly took his bag to go with Nino and Ohno. Aiba and Sho had left for their study group before them.

“Let’s study in the Great Library today,” suggested Nino as he started to swing his and Ohno’s hands together. A new habit he developed whenever they walked together. Even though Jun kept on complaining about their excessive skinship, he shipped both of them together. They are a very cute couple. He loves how both of their cheeks turned red when he teased them. But, today, he wasn’t in the mood to tease them. He had a mission. “I’m getting bored with the mini library,”

“Or maybe because you have read all the books in the mini library?” He tried asking to see how Nino would respond. The brat wasn’t surprised.

“Well, yeah. It’s because of that too,”

“Actually, what are you looking for?” He tried to test again how much the brat will tell him. “Is it related to The Stranger?”

And, as expected, Nino flinched when he heard the name. Jun had just realized how different Nino reacted now when he heard The Stranger. Before this, whenever anyone mentioned the name, Nino will start to brag about his ancestor. How proud he was with his ancestor who defeated the dark wizard. However, since they came to the school, Nino always looked a bit tense to hear the name.

“Jun!” Ohno who was silent since a while ago scolded him when Nino didn’t say anything.

“It’s okay, Ohchan,” said Nino, stopping Ohno from scolding Jun “ It’s true I’m reading about The Stranger. There’s something that bothered me,”

“Do you mind telling us about it? Maybe we could help you,” asked Jun and Ohno nodded in agreement. Nino, however, was reluctant to answer as he looked at the surrounding. They were on the stone bridge and there were a couple of female students behind them.

“I cannot say it here. Maybe when we get back to the room, I will tell you about it. I’m sure Sho chan and Aiba chan would like to know about it too,” answered Nino. Both Jun and Ohno let out a sigh, clearly disappointed to hear that.

“Don’t worry. I’ll tell you but this isn’t the right place,” said Nino, trying to convince them that he wasn’t trying to hide anything. Jun understood the reason but he was eager to know. However, what can they do? Nino was right. It sounds like a big secret so of course, Nino wanted to talk about it in private.

They continued to walk to the library, talking about the random things that happened in the class. They laughed when Nino told Ohno about Aiba’s previous experiment and why it wasn’t a good idea for Ohno to join his mirror man experiment. Ohno just laughed it off and told them that Aiba didn’t have time to experiment yet because he was too busy with his class.

“Don’t you think it was weird that Aiba wants to join Sho’s study group?” Asked Nino and Jun nodded in agreement. Well, he thought it was weird but maybe it’s good for Aiba to join the group. Perhaps it was Sho who convinced or  _ force _ him to join. Aiba was the type who did his homework last minute. So, with the study group, it will avoid him from doing so. At least, being busy with the study group, he won't have time for his experiment. He hoped that Aiba wouldn’t try to influence his study group members to join his experiment.

They finally arrived at the Great Library. It was the first time they came to the library and all of them were fascinated to see how big it is. Of course, there were more books in this library than the one in their dorm and he glanced at Nino who looked hopeful. Jun silently prayed that his friend would find whatever he was looking for so that he would feel better.

“So, where do you want to sit?” Asked Nino looking at the map of the library at the entrance. Jun suggested the private room area and his friends nodded in agreement, hoping there were rooms available for them to use.

As they searched for an empty room, Jun noticed Mao at the shelf, looking for a book. He glanced at the front, at Nino and Ohno, who didn’t notice her. He was tempted to greet her even though he knew Nino would definitely tease him about it. Ah, whatever, he hoped Nino wouldn’t realize he was gone if he talked with her for a while.

He started to walk towards her when another guy approached her. He didn’t recognize who the guy was but he felt jealous with the way Mao smiled softly at him.

“Sensei,” he heard Nino’s voice right behind him. He turned to look at Nino who was pulling Ohno and walked towards Mao and the guy.

“Ninomiya san! What a pleasant surprise to see you here,” said the guy. Oh, so he was a teacher. He must be Nino’s teacher for his speciality training class. Thinking it would be rude if he didn’t greet the teacher, Jun approached them. He couldn’t help but smile to see how Mao blushed when he stood next to her.

“Good evening, sensei,” said Jun politely. He didn’t know the name of the teacher. The teacher smiled in return but he could see he was more interested in Ohno. The teacher couldn’t take his eyes off Ohno to the point of making Ohno felt uncomfortable.

“My friend is cute, isn’t he, Kimura sensei?” Said Nino and the teacher removed his gaze from Ohno to Nino.

“Yes. He is. I know it’s rude to stare but you remind me of someone,” said Kimura sensei before he introduced himself as Kimura Takuya to both of them. The name sounds familiar to Jun. Of course, because he was one of the talented young wizards who preferred to work as a teacher than working in the ministry. “May I know your name?”

“This is Ohno Satoshi and this is Matsumoto Jun,” said Nino, introducing them to Kimura sensei. The teacher then excused himself from them. As he left, Jun saw how he was  _ jealous _ to see the way Nino and Ohno were holding hands. His stare was even sharper than the glare from Erika Toda who was known to have a crush on Nino and wasn’t happy to see the close relationship between his friends. He wondered if the others notice it too.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nino finally told his friend about another version of history that he discovered.

It was Saturday, a week before their first quest. Nino woke up earlier than his friends.

He was sleepy. Yet, he couldn’t sleep. So, he took his DS from the drawer and started to play the game while thinking of what he should do today. He knew that Sho wanted to discuss the strategy and practice for the quest this afternoon. So, that would mean, he cannot spend the day reading in the library. He himself thought it was futile to continue researching. It’s impossible to find what he was looking for. 

“Ah, you’ve woke up,” he heard Aiba’s voice, causing Nino to put his DS away and sat on his… no, Ohno’s bed. He didn’t even remember the last time he slept on his own bed.

“Aiba, I’m so sleepy but I cannot sleep,” he complained and Aiba nodded his head, indicating he was the same as Nino. Just like him, Aiba also looked sleepy. Aiba, then, pointed at the discussion table at the back of their room before he stood up and walked to the table. Nino understood what he meant. So, as slowly as he can so he won’t wake the boy next to him, he walked to the table.

“It’s only 7.30 a.m. It’s still early. I guess my body is used to wake up at this time, even on weekend,” said Nino.

“I’m hungry. Should we wake the others so that we can go for breakfast?” asked Aiba but Nino shook his head. He pointed to the cookies that Jun put on his shelf. Aiba could eat that while waiting for the others to wake up. Honestly, he didn’t mind waking up both Jun and Sho but looking at the peaceful and angelic face of Ohno when he slept, Nino didn’t have the heart to wake him up.

Aiba did as he asked, taking Jun’s cookies as breakfast. He offered the cookies to Nino but Nino refused to take. He thinks it is too early to eat.

“Nino, what did you read in the library?” asked Aiba. As expected of Aiba. He wasn’t the type to sugar-coating before he spoke. He goes straight to the point. However, Nino ignored him, too lazy to answer. “Jun said you’re going to tell us and I should wait patiently but I cannot wait anymore,”

“Wait for the others,” said Nino, making Aiba pouted in return. He tried to display his best puppy eyes to Nino and Nino avoided his gaze. There were times Nino couldn’t resist the puppy eyes and he could feel this is one of those rare moments. Aiba knew him too well. He knew that Nino hasn’t turned on his Aiba-puppy-eyes-defense mode yet early in the morning because he wasn’t fully awake.

He admitted, sometimes it was easier to talk with Aiba than Jun and Sho. Maybe because Aiba was his first friend. He remembered when he was a kid, he was very afraid to make a friend. Afraid that one day, they would leave him. So, he created a barrier between himself and other people. Aiba was the first one to try and break the wall around him.

“Pleaseeee,” Aiba insisted again and he sighed in defeat, knowing he couldn’t say no to that face.

“Okay,” whispered Nino. “I think my ancestor was the one who started the war,”

“WHAAAAATTTT?” shouted Aiba, waking up the other three. They rubbed their eyes sleepily and glared at both Nino and Aiba for disturbing their sleep. Aiba didn’t seem to notice them and continued. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN? FOUNDER NINOMIYA WAS THE ONE WHO STARTED THE WAR?”

That made the other three looked at Nino with wide eyes. They don’t look sleepy anymore.

“Not him. His older sister,” and that made them even more surprised. No one ever heard that Founder Ninomiya had a sister.

  
  
  
  


_ It was another boring morning. His parents weren’t home as they need to take care of the important matter in a rural part of Tokyo. Nino wasn’t paying attention but if he was not mistaken, his father needed to go to an NMF village because of a witch. _

_ He had been living alone with the maid for about a week now. It was a common thing to happen especially if you’re a son of an important figure in society. His parents had insisted for him to follow but he was too lazy to go with them. So, here he is. Staying at home, alone. _

_ “Young master Ninomiya, would you like to eat your breakfast now?” Asked one of the maids as he entered the dining room. He simply nodded his head and sat at his usual place at the table. Usually, he would eat in his room whenever his parents weren’t around but today he was in the mood to eat in the dining room. _

_ “What is your plan for today, young master?” Asked the maid as she served the breakfast. Nino just shrugged. As always, he wasn’t planning to do anything today. He thought of going to Aiba’s place but he was too lazy to move. Maybe he should call Aiba and asked him to come instead. They could play Mario Karts together and it would be entertaining to beat the guy in each round. _

_ “Young Master Aiba called just now. He invited you to come to his house. He said that Young Master Matsumoto and Young Master Sakurai are there to help him with his new experiment. It would be fun if you join him too,” explained the maid. Hearing that made Nino rolled his eyes in disbelief. Jun was there to help Aiba? Wow, what did the Baka do to make Jun agree to help him? Usually, Jun was more reluctant to help Aiba than Nino. Perhaps Aiba was just lying to make Nino go to his house. Too bad, Nino was too lazy to go out. _

_ “Okay, I will call Aiba chan and tell him I’m not interested to join him. You know, his experiment is too stupid sometimes that you will start to question his sanity,” Nino then proceed to tell the maid about the experiments that Aiba had conducted which made the maid laughed in response. _

“Hey, how dare you badmouth me with your maid!” Said Aiba angrily as they listened to Nino’s story. Nino just laughed. He just felt like added that to his story even though he knew it was unnecessary.

“Could you skipped the unnecessary details about Aiba and his experiment and go straight about Founder Ninomiya’s sister?” Requested Jun, obviously irritated with Nino, and Aiba slapped his shoulder lightly.

“How could you say I am the unnecessary detail?”

“Whatever, just stay quiet and don’t interrupt if you want to hear the rest of the story,”

  
  


_ He went to call Aiba, trying to persuade him to abandon his stupid experiment and come joining him playing games, bringing along both Sho and Jun. However, it was Aiba’s butler who answered the call telling him that Aiba was busy at the moment. Feeling a bit disappointed, Nino went back to his room, not knowing what to do. _

_ Without really thinking, he lied down on his bed and started to play catch ball with the ceiling. Being bored with the ceiling, he stood up and played with the wall. As he played, he kept on wondering about the mural painting on his wall. It wasn’t like he didn’t notice the painting before but when you are bored, everything becomes interesting. _

_ He wondered who the other boy might be. Even though he didn’t know the boy, he couldn’t help but look at the mural fondly. He doesn’t know if it was because of the painter or the boy in the painting which caused him to have this feeling. _

_ Looking at the rest of his room, he would be lying if he said that he never think why everything is in pair in his room. Two beds, two wardrobes, two bedside tables. Everything in his room. It was like he had another roommate which he didn’t know about and the roommate is the boy in the painting. To stop himself from thinking about the boy, he would always try to convince himself that his parents set up the other set for Aiba, Sho and Jun when they came around. But, he knew that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t that he never thought of trying to figure out the identity of the boy but he was afraid. Afraid to know that the boy is real but had left him behind for an unknown reason. It makes him feel like he was rejected by the boy. _

_ But… No matter what… He needs to know who the boy is. And maybe today is the day he would finally found something about the boy. _

_ He decided to check the other bedside table. He knew that his friends didn’t touch anything that belonged to the other side except for the bed. So, maybe there was something in the table or wardrobe which would help him identify the mysterious boy. _

_ He tried to open the drawer but it was locked. He then searched the wardrobe but disappointed to know that it was empty with dust. He was too short to see the top section of the wardrobe so he let his hand do the work. He could feel there was something on the top but he couldn’t get it. So, he took a chair and noticed there was a small black box at the end of the top section. He took the box and opened it to see a key. _

_ Thinking that the key could open the drawer of the bedside table, he immediately tried to unlock the drawer with it. He was excited when he heard the click sound and pull open the drawer only to be disappointed to see it was empty. _

_ But, his eyes caught something interesting. He noticed how the drawer looked shallower than it appeared outside. He tried his luck and tried to remove the drawer and screamed in joy when he noticed a paper underneath the drawer. He took the paper only to be puzzled with what’s written on it. _

_ ‘Go to the painting, stroke the eyes of the other boy while saying your name and ‘I want to hide’. Something interesting will happen’ _

_ He couldn’t help but thinking this is a prank. Maybe Jun put it there to make him looked stupid. But, there was no secret camera in the room and Jun wouldn’t know even if he tried it. _

_ So, he did what was instructed on the paper without expecting anything except Jun might come out of nowhere, laughing at his stupidity. That’s why he was surprised when the painting mysteriously disappeared and replaced with a door. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Nino stopped talking to look at his friends, wondering if they would think he was lying. He wasn’t, though. One look at Sho and he knew his friend wanted him to continue.

“I opened the door and there were stairs which lead me to a room in the basement. The room looked old as if no one had used it for a long time. It looked like a small study room with a bookshelf and a table. I take a look at the books but I’ve never seen most of them,”

“There was a diary on the table. The name of the owner wasn’t written but as I skim through the diary, I found out it belonged to Founder Ninomiya. So, I decided to read the diary. I want to know more about my idol,” everyone, except Ohno, knew how much Nino idolized his ancestor. If he heard anyone said the name, he will start talking about him non-stop. Anyone would be like him, right, if they are related to a hero?

However, right now, he wasn’t sure if his ancestor was really a hero. What he read in the diary totally made his world turned upside down and he started to question everything that he knew about the past.

Maybe he should warn his friends first before letting them know what’s in the diary.

“Well, that’s the risk we have to take. You’ve started to tell me a bit so I’m curious to know more,” said Sho when Nino warned them. “It must be a burden for you to keep this all to yourself. So, let’s us share your burden and maybe we can help you find the truth,”

Jun, Aiba and Ohno nodded in agreement. Looking at how they encouraged him to tell the story, he felt better. Taking a deep breath, he began the story.

“He didn’t write much in the beginning. Mostly he wrote a poem to express how lonely he was. Then, he met someone and his poems started to become happier. He used those poems to express his feeling for that person,” said Nino, smiling as he thought of how cute his lovestruck ancestor was. He dedicated those poems to someone named Samii. He wrote remarks like, _ ‘I’ve got the inspiration to write this when Samii stumbled in class just now’ _ or _ ‘Can I confess my feelings for Samii by giving this poem to him?’. _

He noticed how his friends were looking at him in disbelief. He knew what it meant. They’re not interested with his ancestor’s love life. But, he wants to tell them about it.

“Then, his entries became negative again. He was blaming himself for a lot of things…” said Nino as he tried to remember the last entry of the diary. “… He explained about it in his last entry,”

Again, Nino took a deep breath and getting ready to recite the last entry.

_ I am Kazu and this is my story. _

_ I am a wizard, a person who was born with magic. _

_ I don’t like magic at first because it’s the reason I don’t have any friends. In my village, my sister and I are the only wizards there. My sister, Naomi, was three years older than me. The villagers are afraid of me because of Naomi. Because she has magic, she believes that everyone should follow her order. She abused her magic to threaten people to do her bidding. She will torture anyone who dares to go against her. _

_ Everyone didn’t want to be my friend because they thought I am like her. However, I am the opposite of her. I want to be normal. I don’t want people to be afraid of me. Even though she taught me how to do magic, I didn’t do it as well as her. Well, maybe because I didn’t want to do magic. I’ve only learnt magic because I don’t want to disappoint her. _

_ One day, an old man visited our village with his son. I think the son was around the same age as Naomi. They met my adopted parents (Naomi forced them to adopt us to make me feel like I have a normal family) and asked questions about my sister and me. The old man told my parents that Naomi and I should follow him to a school. It’s a school for people like us. My parents didn’t seem reluctant at all to let us go. Perhaps they were waiting for that day to come, to finally get rid of us. Of course, Naomi objected the idea. She tried to use her magic on the old man, but, for the first time, she was powerless. It seemed like the old man was controlling her that she cannot do anything to attack him. As she realized it was futile to fight the old man, she agreed to go to school. _

_ The journey to school was quite long and it became more difficult because we were travelling on foot. I didn’t dare to talk with my sister during the journey because she’s in the bad mood. So, I tried to make friend with the old man’s son, Samii. It wasn’t his real name. It was a nickname I gave him when he refused to tell me his name. Even after I knew his real name, I still call him that because he requested it. He said it made him feel special to have a nickname from me. _

_ I don’t know how to explain my first impression on Samii. He kept on teasing me. Well, if I have to say, it’s more like he’s trying to flirt with me. I found myself enjoying his company maybe because no one ever treated me like that. Usually, Naomi will attack anyone who tried to flirt with me, but I guess she was too preoccupied thinking about the old man and the school that she didn’t notice how Samii was behaving around me. _

_ We arrived at the school in two days. The school was small and Samii explained that there were about twenty students at that time. They were still looking for more people with magic and gather them in the school as protection. The school was managed by Samii’s father. Everyone called him as the principal. There were a few elders who’s going to teach me how to use my magic. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea and was tempted to ask if there’s a way for me to get rid of my magic. Just like he was reading my mind, he explained to me that I cannot get rid of my magic, and that’s why I should learn how to embrace my magic. If I didn’t embrace my magic, there’s a high possibility that it will control me and may cause trouble. Little did I know at that time that he was really reading my mind. _

_ I shared the room with a few boys. Three of them were my age and another one was older, perhaps even older than Samii and Naomi. The three boys were Shun, Masa and Junno and the older boy is Nakai. Shun was the nerd and the brain of the group. Masa is a friendly but clumsy boy. Junno is quite competitive. He often challenged himself to do more than necessary in the practice. On the other hand, I found Nakai quite intimidating. He was quiet and spend most of the time alone. _

_ Everyone left Nakai on his own except for Naomi. She became Nakai’s first friend and they were close. I don’t suspect anything at first. I only thought that maybe they like each other as Naomi had changed since she met Nakai. Before this, her expression was always unfriendly, making it hard for people to approach her. She never smiled genuinely, not even to me. But, now, her expression turned softer each day and she became gentle. She was a sweet older sister everyone dreams of. I wasn’t aware of the real reason for this change until it’s too late. I will write more about the reason later. _

_ I found out that there was a different kind of magic. Shun and Nakai are healers, Junno controls elements and Masa controls animal. Of course, I wonder what Samii’s magic is but I was more curious to know why he didn’t practice in the same room as us. Shun told me it’s because his magic is special and one of its kind. He needed to practice with his father alone but sometimes he will join us. _

_ Three months living in the school and I rarely saw Samii. I only see him in the dining hall but we couldn’t talk much because he was always in a rush. Then, one day, I saw him in my training room. He practised controlling water with Junno. I think it’s weird because Shun said his magic is unique. So, what is so unique about him if he can control water just like Junno? _

_ Samii smiled at me and… _

“Are you going to tell us the love story between Samii and Founder Ninomiya? I’m not interested with a sappy love story,” complained Jun but Nino ignored him and continue the story. It wasn’t his intention to highlight the relationship between Samii and Founder Ninomiya but he has to.

_ Samii smiled at me and approached me. He asked me to go on a walk with him and I agreed. I wasn’t really fond of practice after all. Even though I’ve been here for three months and met other wizards, I’m still having a hard time accepting the fact.  _

_ “So, do you like this place?” Asked Samii when we took a rest at the field. I just nodded my head. I love this place, having a friend but I don’t like… _

_ “Still cannot accept that you’re a wizard?” _

_ “Why do I feel like you’re reading my mind?” _

_ “Because I’m reading your mind,” I looked at him in disbelief. Reading my mind? How could he do that? _

_ Then, I remembered the first time I met him. How it looked like his father was controlling… _

_ “Yup. That’s what we can do. We can control people too,” _

_ “It’s scary,” I said without thinking. I turned to look at him, afraid if I offended him but his expression remained the same. He smiled softly at me. _

_ “Remember the first time we met? How I tried to flirt with you,” asked Samii and I nodded my head. How could I forget? No one ever made me feel that way and I enjoyed the attention he gave me. That’s why I never stop him. _

_ “I’m attracted to you because I think we’re quite similar. It was a hypocrite of me to ask you to embrace your magic when I struggled with it myself. I don’t like to read mind but I’m not good at controlling it. That’s why sometimes I could hear what you were thinking of me,” he said with a hint of blush on his cheeks. I think that maybe my face would be the same as he knew there were times I wish he would kiss me. _

_ I was stunned when he suddenly leaned closer and put his lips against me. He was kissing me. I tried to respond but I bet it was a sloppy kiss. It’s my first kiss after all. _

_ “You aren’t sloppy. It felt good to kiss you,” _

_ “Can you stop reading my mind? It’s embarrassing,” _

_ “I’m sorry,” he said softly as he brushed his finger against my lips. “I cannot control it. Maybe because I have feelings for you, it was easier for me to read your mind. I know I’m invading your privacy but I’m doing my best to control it so that I would only use it when needed,” _

_ “Need it?” I asked him. Would they ever be the time when you would need to read people’s mind? _

_ He explained to me what he meant by that. There was a group of wizards known as the guardian. That’s what his father is. It wasn’t like they can read and control everyone. They could only do so to people with magic. They are responsible to protect the people without magic from the witch and wizard. That’s because some wizards believe they’re superior to the non-magic people. Just like what my sister thinks. If there is any suspicious person, the guardian will investigate and one of the ways is by mind-reading. It’s the last resort if they are still suspicious with that person’s intention. So, their way of protecting the non-magic folk is by controlling the wizards with ill intention. Of course, there is a limit for that. If the wizard was strong enough, he/she could break free from the guardian’s control. Fortunately, so far, no guardian abused their magic to make the wizards do bad things nor did any of the bad wizards could break free from the guardian’s control. _

_ “But, you could control water? How did you do that? I thought we could only have one speciality magic,” I asked him as I remembered his practice with Junno earlier. _

_ “I’m a fusion,” _

_ “Fusion?” _

_ “Well, it wasn’t exactly the right term to describe me. It is what Masa called me. Shun explained to him what the word meant using me as an example. Since then, he had been calling me the fusion. You know how random Masa can be, right?” _

_ “It sounds like something that Masa will do,” I nodded in agreement before Samii continued his explanation. _

_ “One of the rules of the guardian is that they cannot marry the wizard. The one who made the rule was afraid that if the guardian married the wizard, the child will inherit the wizard’s magic and the guardian will extinct. That’s why a guardian could only marry the guardian. But, most of the guardian chose to be single because they don’t like the idea of getting married to someone who could read your mind. That’s why there are only a few guardians left right now,” _

_ “And the principal broke the rule?” _

_ “He wasn’t even aware of such a rule. He just does whatever he wants to do. It was a miracle that I could inherit both my parents’ magic though I wasn’t strong enough. My mother could control all four elements but I could only control water. On the hand, my mother had to suffer. She became weak since she was pregnant with me. The elders specialized in healing said that it may be because she wasn’t strong enough to carry me who was blessed with magic from both parents. We still cannot find a way to heal her,” _

_ I just nodded my head. Talking with Samii somehow had helped me to put things into perspective. I wasn’t the only one who was struggling to accept my nature. Perhaps my friends were struggling too but they didn’t show it. If they can learn to adapt, maybe I could do the same too. _

_ And training became easier when I think of it that way. _

_ My relationship with Samii is also good. We often spend time together, like a married couple. _

_ I thought everything is going to be okay. _

_ But I was wrong. _

_ I wasn’t aware that someone was watching us when we were together and felt jealous to see our close relationship. _

_ I was naïve to think that nothing could go wrong in my life with Samii by my side. _

_ I wasn’t aware that Naomi, my own sister, was holding a grudge against me. _

_ For my happiness with Samii. _

_ Ten years have passed since I came to school. A tragedy happened that year. A tragedy that distorted the peace we have created with the non-magic people. _

_ My sister was clever. She had been tricking us all these times. Together with Nakai, she was forming forces to go against us. _

_ It started with the death of Samii’s mother. She had been sick for a while but none of the healers could do anything to help her. Then, Nakai created a new healing spell and her health became better a few months before her death. It’s part of the plan he had with my sister. The plan to bring down Samii’s father. _

_ Samii’s father was known to be the best guardian. But, like everyone else, he had weakness and his weakness was his wife. His wife had been sick for a while. He was happy to have her by his side though there were times he wished that she is dead so that she won’t suffer anymore. Nakai and Naomi took advantage of that, creating a spell that could heal her just to give him hope that she could be better before crushing it when she died. I never saw the principal happier when the spell that Nakai created was showing a positive result. However, a few months after Nakai started the healing treatment, Samii’s mother’s health became worse, worse than the one she had before. Nakai explained it was the side effect of the healing spell and he would try to do something about it. _

_ Then, one day, she left us forever. _

_ The principal couldn’t accept this and locked himself in his room. Perhaps he could accept the news if his wife never showed any improvement. _

_ Samii wasn’t any better. He appeared to be calm and do his training as usual. However, he was putting a distance between us. I was upset to see he didn’t trust me enough to share his pain but I tried to be understanding and gave him space to be alone. _

_ Everything after that happened too quickly. We lose contact with the guardian around Japan and later found out that they were killed. We do not know who is the culprit and the only guardian left, which is our principal, was too vulnerable to take any action. _

_ It didn’t take too long for Naomi and Nakai to reveal themselves as the true culprit. I was sleeping with Samii when he woke up from a nightmare, telling me how he was worried about his father. I advised him to get back to sleep but he refused. So, in the middle of the night, we walked together to the principal’s room. _

_ I was afraid that Samii was right when I heard someone laughed from the room. We were too late when we opened the door. Standing right in front of us was Naomi with the corpse of the principal in a terrifying state. Of course, Samii couldn’t think properly and attacked my sister without thinking. However, my sister was quick to deflect his attack. It became a battle between them and if I didn’t interrupt, Samii might be killed by Naomi. _

_ My sister was furious to see me there, destroying her chance of killing another person that could control her. I asked her why she did this and I was surprised to hear her answer. _

_ “It’s all your fault, Kazu. If you didn’t get together with him, I might not do this. You made me choose this way. I don’t want to lose everything. I cannot have the one I love but I can still have the world under my command. Don’t blame me for this. Blame yourself,” _

_ “It wasn’t Kazu’s fault. You should know yourself that you can’t be with…,” Samii interrupted but was immediately cut off by Naomi. _

_ “Just shut up. I’m leaving this school. You cannot stop me from ruling this world, weakling,” _

_ She left that night, along with her supporters. We were surprised to know that a few elders sided with her, helping her to kill Samii’s parents. A lot of wizards support them and the one who stayed weren’t that strong. We do not stand a chance against her and her army. _

_ It was like I’m back at the time I was in the village. My sister terrorizing those without magic but this time it felt more dangerous. She had supporters who had a different motivation for doing this. Most are just equally crazy for power like her or for the grudge they have for those non-magic people who make fun of them. _

_ I don’t remember how long the war was. They kept attacking us and we lose a few comrades in the war. I remember their last attack as if it happened yesterday. I don’t want to write about it because it’s too painful. But, I have to. That’s the point of me writing this entry. _

_ Samii decided to battle against Naomi. I knew he couldn’t win as Naomi had become stronger but I cannot stop him. Like before, I interrupted their battle when she almost killed Samii. However… I didn’t know how it happened… I accidentally killed her. She was dead, in my arms and I was the one who heard her final words. She still blamed me for making her like that. And I was blaming myself too. I was too ignorant, thinking I was imagining her jealous stare whenever she saw both me and Samii together. I jumped into conclusion, thinking she likes Nakai when she was actually in love with Samii. As her brother, I should know she was just pretending, but I didn’t know her enough, too busy with my own life. She was right. I made her choose this way. _

_ Her supporters were too stunned to see me, who was mediocre in magic, killed her. Because they’re too shocked, we managed to defeat them though some managed to escape. One of them was Nakai who fled with Naomi’s corpse before we could stop him. _

_ What happened next? It was my turn to put a distance with Samii after I lose the only family I had. But, he succeeded to make me come out of my room. He couldn’t help but blame himself for making me killed my own flesh and blood. He knew I did it to save his life but he was afraid. He was afraid that one day I will blame him for that. He wanted to leave the school under my care, along with Shun, Masa and Junno. But, before he left, he requested me to do something for him. Some people were blaming me for losing their friends and families in the war for the same reason I blamed myself. Naomi is now dead so they had no one to punish but me. Samii didn’t like that because I should be the hero for ending the war. If they want to blame anyone, it should be him because he didn’t do his task as the guardian properly. So, he proposed a plan. Of course, I rejected it at first but he convinced me. We altered the fact. Samii became the villain known as The Stranger who went against us to conquer the world. People who know the truth are me, Shun, Masa and Junno. Of course, people who fled with Nakai knew the truth too. _

_ Until today, I wasn’t sure if I was making the right choice. _


	6. Chapter 6

“Alter the fact?” Said his friends simultaneously when he finished. Nino simply nodded his head. He didn’t know how his ancestor did so. Founder Ninomiya didn’t write about it so he had no idea what spell or method they used in the past to change the memory of people involved in the war. What did they do to erase Naomi from the history and convinced the others that Samii was The Stranger who went against the four founders?

“So, what were you searching for in the library?” Asked Sho. He was the first to recover from the shock of hearing the alternate history. Nino explained to him how he was looking for any spell that could be used to alter memory or any indication that Naomi really existed. So far, he didn’t find any luck for both.

“How about the books in the basement?” Asked Sho but Nino shook his head. Those books were the first he tried but most of them were written in ancient language so he couldn’t understand. The rest of the books were mostly about healing spell. So, they didn’t help him to confirm the secret about Naomi.

“So, from the diary, we know that Samii aka The Stranger wasn’t the one who started the war. But, he took responsibility because he was the reason Naomi decided to go against them. She was in love with him, but he loves Founder Ninomiya, and that makes her jealous. The jealousy was what driven her to continue with her previous ambition to rule the world. Wow, a woman can be quite scary when they’re jealous,” remarked Sho and everyone nodded in agreement.

“You have to be extra careful,” said Aiba, addressing both Nino and Ohno. They looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he meant by that. “Erika chan can be quite scary too. Don’t you see the way she glared at Ohno when both of you are together?”

“Ah,” said Nino when he understood what Aiba meant by that. Of course, he noticed that too. Even though there was nothing established between Ohno and Nino  _ yet _ , Nino had convinced Erika that he was not interested in her.

“Well, never thought that you would think about that, Aiba chan…” said Jun before turning his attention back to Nino “… but, are you sure the diary is not fake?”

“Well, it’s because I’m not sure if the diary is real that I’ve been doing the research, Jun-pon,” said Nino and Jun glared at him in response. He hadn’t called that nickname for a while. It was one of his favourites, especially because Jun hated that name.

“I’ve been thinking…” Sho started, but he stopped almost immediately as he tried to recollect his thought “Was it necessary for them to alter the history? Was it because Samii didn’t want people to blame Founder Ninomiya or was it because of another reason? I’m just wondering because something didn’t feel right. Is there anything else in the diary?”

There was something else written in the diary after Founder Ninomiya questioned himself if he was making the right choice. But he didn’t know what it was because it was removed from the diary. He didn’t know if he should tell them about it so he looked hesitant before shaking his head. Of course, it didn’t go unnoticed for Sho.

“Really? You don’t look sure before you shook your head,”

“I’m just trying to remember,” answered Nino and Sho seems to buy it as he didn’t ask any further.

“So, where is the diary now?”

“I left it in the basement. I think it’s too dangerous to bring it outside of the basement in case someone else found it. Besides, I don’t think anyone else could go there,” Answered Nino and Sho nodded his head, satisfied with his way of handling the diary.

“Well, it’s just like what you say. After hearing it from you, I just want to know the truth. I will try to help you find anything about Naomi but if we didn’t find anything, I think the diary is fake,” Said Sho as he closed his notebook. Nino rolled his eyes, couldn’t believe Sho was taking note when Nino told them about the diary. “But, now, we need to focus on the first quest. Do you want to discuss our strategy here or in the library?”

They agreed to discuss the strategy in the room so Sho gave them fifteen minutes to refresh themselves. Both Aiba and Jun ran to the bathroom and Aiba pouted when Jun entered the bathroom first when he pushed the other boy away. Sho simply laughed watching both of them before he skimmed through his notebook. Nino turned to look at Ohno next to him when the other boy held his hand tightly as if he was afraid of something. He was surprised when Ohno wasn’t looking at him but staring intently at the window. He turned to look at the window to see what caught Ohno’s attention but nothing was interesting to look at.

  
  
  
  
  


They had a briefing on what the first quest would be on Monday. The first quest will be on Friday. They will enter a wall maze and find a golden egg in three hours. They will face three obstacles. The first two obstacles would give a hint for the location of the golden egg. Once they get to the location of the golden egg, they will need to face the third obstacle. They could only retrieve the golden egg if they overcome the third obstacle.

To give more time for the students to prepare for the quest, all of the morning classes were cancelled on Thursday and replaced with speciality training class for two hours. After that, all of the students are free to practice on their own. 

Ohno waited for his friends near the lake. He was alone. He just finished his class with Jun but the other boy wanted to go to the restroom and asked him to go to the lake first. It was Sho who suggested practising near the lake after the class because fewer people will be here so they could concentrate on their practice.

While waiting for his friends, he practised controlling the water. It was easier for him to make a water ball after he accidentally created water-Nino. Now that he had mastered the art of making water ball, he tried to create other shapes. However, no matter how much he practised, he couldn’t help but feeling anxious while waiting for his friends.

He didn’t like to be alone nowadays because he could feel someone was watching him and might attack him if he was alone. Remembering how his mother told him that his father died because of magic, he couldn’t help but think someone murdered his father and now the murderer wanted to kill him too. Maybe someone was holding a grudge against his family and that’s why they hide from the magic community before this. That would explain why his mother was worried to let him go to school.

He let out a squeal when someone closed his eyes from behind, thinking that finally, his stalker was ready to kidnap him. However, when he smelled the familiar scent, he sighed in relief as he removed the hamburger hand and brought the person to stand in front of him.

“Nino,” he called the other boy softly and Nino flashed his trademark smirk. Ohno took a seat, looking at the lake and Nino followed suits.

“I didn’t expect you to squeal. In fact, I thought you will not have any reaction…” Said Nino as he examined Ohno’s finger “… Where is the diva? Weren’t you suppose to be with him?”

“He went to the restroom. He asked me to go here first,” Nino nodded his head and simply watched him practising with the water.

“I can see you’re getting better at making water ball now,” complimented Nino and Ohno lowered his head, feeling shy to be praised. “You can make other shapes too. You make me wish that I could see the water  _ me _ that you created in class. J told me it’s really amazing,”

Ohno could feel his cheeks turned redder. They never talked about it before because it’s embarrassing. But he likes how Nino casually brought it up.

“How about you? What do you do in your class?” Asked Ohno, trying to change the focus of their conversation to Nino instead of himself. He already knew what Nino did in his class and it sounds amazing so he wanted Nino to show it to him.

To prepare for the quest, Sho made research by asking the seniors what kind of quest would it be. Usually, the quest would cover three aspects; theory, application and combination of both. For the first part, it would be a quiz so Sho suggested that they studied all the facts in History of Magic and Magical Law. For the second part, there would be a demonstration of their speciality magic so they need to sharpen their skill. For this, Sho had asked them to describe what they’ve learnt in their speciality training so they can predict what kind of demonstration they would have to do. They were not sure about the third part because it varies every year. The previous year, the students need to duel a magical creature and the year before that, the students need to prepare a potion.

Nino told them that he learnt how to change the features of his face. He never saw Nino do a significant change to his face while practising. All he did was changing the colour of his eyes or his hair. However, he heard from the other students from Nino’s house how advanced Nino’s skill is. He wished that he could see Nino’s face turned into someone else.

“Hmmm…. Nothing interesting” answered Nino, obviously didn’t want to show Ohno his true skill.

“Liar,” said Ohno as he pouted. Nino tried to talk with him but he pretended to ignore him.

“Fine, Ohchan,” said Nino, clearly giving up. Ohno smiled innocently as he knew he succeeded to make Nino change his mind. “If you want to see it so much, please close your eyes,”

Ohno did as he was told. It was quiet until Nino asked him to open his eyes. He opened his eyes and screamed, surprised to see who was standing in front of him. He was looking at his own reflection. But, it wasn’t for long. In less than five minutes, Nino was staring back at him.

“It’s really hard to change all the features of your face at the same time. If there are more people, it will be harder to focus because I need to trick everyone to believe I’ve become you,”

“Can you do something else?” He asked for more but Nino shook his head. He knew the other was lying so he pouted and refused to talk with him again. He enjoyed seeing the way Nino sighed in defeat whenever he was sulking.

Once again, Nino asked him to close his eyes and opened it back in five minutes. He did so but when he opened his eyes again, Nino was nowhere to be found. He could hear Nino laughed but there was no one in front of him. However, he didn’t have to wait for long when Nino slowly appeared again in front of him. It was shorter this time, probably because it was harder to make the whole body disappear.

“It’s….. Amazing,” said Ohno and he didn’t realize he was putting a soft kiss on Nino’s cheeks. It was when Nino lowered his gaze that he realized what he was doing. He couldn’t help it. Nino was so cute when he was laughing that he felt the urge to kiss his cheeks.

“Oiiiii,” He turned behind when he heard Jun’s voice. His face turned red when he saw Jun and Aiba were laughing at them while Sho was just shaking his head. Frankly, he found it weird that the boys hadn’t shown up but when he saw them laughing, he realized that all three of them must have been here for a long time and was waiting for the perfect moment to tease both he and Nino. Ohno turned to look at Nino who kept his eyes on the ground, refusing to look at anyone. Ohno found it cute to see him being shy like that.

“You shouldn’t kiss in public,” remarked Jun, obviously happy for getting his chance to tease them.

“How long have you guys been here?” Asked Nino. He tried to look angry but failed.

“We’ve been watching you flirting from the beginning,” said Jun. “We’re just waiting for the perfect moment to make our grand entrance. Thank God we arrived earlier. If we don’t, who knows what the two of you will do then,”

Nino was about to defend himself but stopped when Sho urged them to start practising as they are a little bit behind schedule. Ohno was getting ready to practise when he noticed a silhouette hiding behind one of the trees from the nearby forest. He turned to look and in a glimpse, he saw a woman in a white robe watching them. He didn’t get to see the woman’s face as she was quite far from them. He looked at his friends and from the way they acted, he assumed none of them saw her. He looked again at the same tree but the woman wasn’t there anymore.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s finally the day for the quest. After lunch, all of the first-year students gathered at the field, looking impressed with the massive wall maze that has been created by the teacher. Ohno observed all the first-year students who looked as nervous as he was. That was understandable. They don’t know what kind of challenge they will face in the maze.

“Are you ready? Don’t worry, I think you will do it just fine,” He turned to look at Nino beside him who was trying to ease the tension he felt. He smiled, appreciating the gesture from Nino who was trying to make him feel better even though he himself looked nervous. Nino is truly a sweet and nice boy.

“May I have your attention, please?” A loud voice could be heard in the front. Kimura sensei stood in front of the maze and ordered the students to keep quiet as he gave instructions for the first quest.

“Okay, we will start the quest in about 10 minutes. I want all of you to wait with your group member at your assigned door,” said Kimura sensei and all of the students started to move as instructed. Sho then informed them that their assigned door is A5 which is at the backside of the maze.

As they walked to the back, he noticed how Kimura sensei was staring at him, just like the first time they met. But, as Kimura sensei noticed Ohno was looking back at him, he immediately turned away and pretended to check on the students. He doesn’t know why but he thought that there was something suspicious about the teacher. Ohno wasn’t quick to hate or dislike someone but looking at Kimura sensei, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy towards the teacher.

Everyone was getting ready in front of the door. He could see some of the students were trying to remember what they have learned and some are practising the magic. His group, on the other hand, tried to relax before the quest began. From the corner of his eyes, he could see that Kimura sensei was still staring at him.

Soon after, the door in front of them was opened from the inside. The maze was very dark and with a nod, Aiba and Sho entered the maze first, followed by both Nino and Ohno. Jun was the last to enter. Even though it was a wall maze from the outside, they were surprised to find themselves in a forest. However, they couldn’t see other students even though all of them entered at the same time.

“Nino, is the forest real or an illusion?” asked Sho. Nino had told them that he learnt how to differentiate an illusion and reality in Kimura sensei’s class. He was quiet as he observed the surrounding before telling them that the forest is real.

“… But I think all the students are here. I could hear their voices but it’s merely a whisper. Maybe the teachers were trying to make us think that we’re alone in the forest,” explained Nino as he approached a tree with writing on it.

_ Coming here to get the egg, but perhaps you will find something else. _

_ First, try to find human with the body of a lion. _

_ But, remember! What you think is right doesn’t mean it is truly right. _

“Human with the body of a lion? Wouldn’t that mean it is a sphinx?” said Aiba. Everyone was looking at him, amazed to know that he has ‘sphinx’ in his vocabulary.

“What? Do you think I don’t know what a sphinx is? I am not that stupid, okay” asked Aiba, as no one responded to him.

“Well, not to offend you, I have a lot of words to describe you and  _ stupid _ was on the top of the list,” said Nino, smirking and Aiba hit his head for that. Ohno smiled looking at both of them. He couldn’t help but amazed to see the friendship between the two of them. He knew Nino was closer to Aiba than Jun and Sho. Even though Nino always bullied Aiba, Aiba doesn’t seem to mind the bully at all. In fact, he seems to look forward to being Nino’s victim.

“Well, how are we going to start looking for the sphinx?” Asked Ohno. They indeed have to look for the sphinx but how are they going to start. They were now at a junction where they need to choose to turn right or left.

“We will turn left. Because it said do not turn right,” Said Sho but both Aiba and Ohno looked at him confusingly. How did he know they shouldn’t turn right?

“See. This one tells us that we shouldn’t believe in what we think right. So, it means that we shouldn’t turn right and take left instead,” said Nino, pointing to the last sentences on the tree. Ohno and Aiba just nodded their head understandingly.

They then begin their journey to find the sphinx. The forest was indeed beautiful and if he was there to stroll around the forest, and not because of the quest, he would appreciate the beauty more. Even though it is beautiful, the forest gets darker as they walk further into the jungle. Sho cast a simple spell to produce light for them. Aiba tried to make their journey interesting as he formed words from the beetles they saw. Even though Sho scolded him for doing unnecessary things, he argued that he was only practising for their second obstacle. Sho sighed in defeat knowing that Aiba was stubborn and won’t listen to him.

After walking for almost 30 minutes, they arrive at a cave with a sphinx drawn on the surface of its entrance. Each of them turned to look at Sho to give further instruction.

“I guess we should get inside. We have 15 minutes to complete the first obstacle if we want to finish the quest on time,” said Sho and he was the first to enter the cave.

“I hope it wasn’t the real sphinx inside. It will be terrible,” said Aiba as he examined the drawing.

“Well, you know how to control animal, right? So, try to  _ control _ the sphinx,” said Nino, mocking Aiba for his earlier remark regarding the beetle.

“Don’t be ridiculous. For now, I’ve only learnt to control insects. There’s no way I could control a sphinx,”

“Well, I think it was just a symbol. A sphinx is a creature that will give riddle to the travellers. So, I think the drawing was just to show that we’re going to have a quiz for the first obstacle. Don’t you think a real sphinx would be more appropriate for….,” Jun trailed off when Sho shouted from inside the cave.

“Can you guys get your ass here? We may not have enough time to complete the quest if you keep talking,”

All four of them looked at each other and Nino pointed at Aiba, blaming him for distracting them but Aiba tried to defend himself.

“NOW!” shouted Sho again when none of them entered the cave. Being afraid that Sho will be furious, all of them immediately get inside even though both Aiba and Nino kept on bickering. But, they stopped when Sho glared at them.

They walked for a short distance until they arrived at three smaller chambers. They looked at each other, wondering which chamber to go to. Sho approached the chamber, looking for clues to know which way to go.

“The first clue is in one of the chambers…,” said a female voice behind them. All of them turned to look at the owner of the voice. It was a woman, wearing a white robe and they couldn’t see her face as it was hidden underneath the hood. “…. You only have one chance to choose the correct chamber. If you choose the wrong chamber, you cannot get out of this cave,”

Ohno’s eyes grew wide when he realized who the woman is. It could be a coincidence, but she was wearing the same white robe as the woman he saw yesterday at the lake. Indeed, he didn’t have a good look at the woman yesterday but he remembered the oversized bell sleeves as well as the cut and torn on the robe. He wondered if she was the same woman from before. If she was, why is she spying on them yesterday? The anxiety that he felt since a few weeks ago… is the woman responsible for it?

“How do we know which chamber to choose?” asked Sho.

Of course, his friends would think the woman was part of the quest. Perhaps she will be the one to give them a riddle to get through the first obstacle. However, Ohno was suspicious of this woman. He couldn’t help but think that the woman had another reason to be here. The same reason for her to spy on them yesterday. But… the quest is supervised by the school, right? There’s no way the teachers would let an outsider entered the maze, right? So, perhaps Ohno was just overthinking and the woman might be a teacher. It was just a coincidence that she was in the lake watching them practice yesterday.

“I will let you know which is the correct chamber but you will have to…” her voice trailed off. Even though they couldn’t see her face, Ohno could feel that she was smirking. All of them expected her to say that they will need to answer her riddles but they were surprised when she raised her hand and pointed at…

“You will have to let me take him,”

  
  
  
  
  


“NO WAY,” Nino immediately responded when he saw the woman pointed at Ohno. Instinctively, he positioned himself in front of Ohno to protect him from the woman. Jun also did the same, standing in front of Ohno to block him from the woman.

Nino cast a glance at Ohno behind him, who blinked his eyes in confusion. At first, he thought the woman was part of the quest, maybe one of the teachers for senior students. But he couldn’t deny there was something that bothered him about the woman. Perhaps her outfit. It doesn’t look like something a teacher would wear. Furthermore, he also noticed how anxious Ohno was to see the woman. Knowing that Ohno looked uneasy for the past few weeks, he couldn’t help but think that the woman might be the reason and maybe she wasn’t joking when she said she wants Ohno.

“Guys, did I hear it right? Did she say she wants Ohno? Isn’t she supposed to give us riddles?” asked Aiba innocently.

“No, you heard her right. Maybe… this is some kind of loyalty test,” said Sho in response. He didn’t sound convincing and it was proven that this isn’t a test when the woman laughed hysterically. She seriously wanted them to give Ohno to her. But, why?

“Loyalty test? Wow, that’s so lame,” said the woman as she took off her hood, showing her face for the first time. All of them gasped in surprise to see her face. She looked exactly like…

“I’m not interested in your quest. The only thing I want is him,” said the woman as she approached them. Nino and Jun get closer to Ohno and they stepped away from the woman until they were standing against the wall of the cave. “I am  _ politely  _ asking you to give him to me. If not…”

She raised her hand and Nino held Ohno’s hand tightly, afraid of what the woman will do to him. However, they were surprised when Sho suddenly screamed.

“AHHHHH…. How did I get here?” they turned their attention to Sho who suddenly squatting on the ground, calling their name. Aiba, who was the closest to Sho, reached for him but was even more surprised when Sho pushed him away. “Don’t come near me, you monster,”

Aiba looked at the three of them, clearly clueless on what to do after his several attempts to calm Sho failed. The woman continued to laugh as she watched them. Nino knew what was happening to Sho. The woman is an illusionist, just like him. From the way Sho reacted, he believed that the woman tricked Sho to believe Aiba was a monster. That’s why Sho pushed Aiba away.

“What did you do to Sho?” shouted Jun as he charged forward to the woman. The woman raised her hand once again, mouthing a spell and Jun was thrown to the other side of the cave. He lied unconscious.

“JUN!” Nino, Ohno and Aiba shouted at the same time. Aiba immediately stood up, leaving Sho alone to check on Jun. He nodded his head towards Ohno and Nino to show that Jun was  _ okay _ .

“Maybe I should just go to her,” Nino heard Ohno whispered behind him.

“No. Don’t be stupid,” he scolded Ohno in return.

“But…”

“No, I will protect you,”

But, he didn’t know how to do so. The woman is a powerful witch. She could maintain her illusion on Sho while at the same time attack Jun. Not to mention, she was clever too. She knew Sho was the smartest among them and that’s why she took care of Sho first.

“Do you want to see something  _ interesting _ ?” asked the woman. She closed her eyes. Nino knew he should attack the woman now, while she was still concentrating on doing whatever she was going to do, but he couldn’t take any action. He didn’t know why, he was... afraid. The woman didn’t look like any other witches he had ever seen. She was powerful and they were just a group of young wizards. They didn’t stand any chance against her.

“AHHHH… don’t attack me. I’m not going to hurt you,” both Nino and Ohno turned to look at Aiba who was lying on the ground. He was trying to push something invisible away from him.

“Well, that was easy,” said the woman. She opened her eyes and looked straight at both Nino and Ohno. She gave them a sinister smile and Nino couldn’t help but trembled with fear to see her smile. His hands and legs were shaking and he couldn’t move even when the woman started walking towards them again. He could feel Ohno was equally scared. He was sweating and panic.

“Now, I just have to get rid of you,” said the woman once she stood in front of them, raising her hand once again. However, instead of attacking Nino, she softly caressed Nino’s cheek. “But… you are a clever boy, right? You don’t have to suffer like your friends. All you have to do…”

“Who are you? What do you want from us?” said Nino. He pushed the woman’s hand to stop her from caressing his cheek. The woman looked offended by what he did and he glared at the woman to appear brave even though he knew it was futile. She knew how scared both of them are, especially after they saw what she did to their friends.

Once again, she raised her hand and knowing he will be her target this time, Nino closed his eyes tightly, afraid of what he might see. He expected to feel pain but… a scream and the sound of someone falling were what he heard instead. He could feel Ohno’s hand slipping from him and he opened his eyes, worried about what the woman did to Ohno. However, he was baffled to see the scene in front of him.

Jun was still lying unconscious on the floor but both Aiba and Sho weren’t screaming as they did before. They looked at him in confusion and it seems that they were no longer trapped in the illusion. However, what surprised Nino the most – it wasn’t Ohno who was lying on the floor, but it was the woman. Ohno, who was beside him, was crouching on the floor, he buried his face with his shaky hands, refusing to look at anyone while murmuring  _ ‘Please stop, don’t hurt Nino,’ _

The woman was grunting as she tried to stand up. However… it surprised Nino even more…  _ she failed to do so.  _ He didn’t know how to describe the situation is. It was like her feet were nailed to the ground. She gave up after repeatedly fail to stand up, so she ended up sitting on the floor, glaring at Ohno in disbelief. However, for a split second, her expression shows  _ satisfaction. _

She closed her eyes once again. Nino was afraid that she might try to attack them again but she didn’t do so. Instead, she was saying a few incomprehensible words while making a weird hand movement. A few seconds later, a semicircle bubble surrounded her. Nino walked towards her, tried to reach for the woman in the bubble. However, his hands were in pain when he touched the bubble. Even though it hurts, he couldn’t help but keep poking the bubble. Noticing what he was doing, both Aiba and Sho walked to him and tried to examine the bubble.

“I see…” she started talking again, giving her full attention to Ohno. Even though she seems to notice the three of them trying to poke her bubble, she ignored them. “I should have known that you will inherit his magic too,”

All of them stopped poking and turned to look at her in confusion. Ohno, who seems distraught since before, stopped mumbling and lifted his face to look at the woman. It seems that he finally noticed that Aiba and Sho had stopped screaming and the woman was now in her prison bubble. He looked at the three of them, eyes begging for an explanation for what had happened. Perhaps thinking that they’re out of danger when he saw the woman was now in the bubble, he stood up.

The moment Ohno stood up, the woman also tried to do the same. Seeing that, Ohno immediately took a step back, mumbling  _ ‘Stay away from me,’.  _ The woman seems to have an inner battle with herself before she  _ complied _ and sat down once again. Nino exchanged a puzzling look with his friends. From their expression, he knew that his friends shared the same thought as his. It was weird. It was like… Ohno was  _ controlling _ the woman.

“What do you mean when you say Ohno inherited his magic too? Whose magic are you talking about?” asked Nino without thinking as he remembered what the woman said earlier. Ohno’s face flinched as he heard what Nino was asking. He seems horrified to hear it. He gave Ohno an apologetic look in case he had offended his friend before turning his attention back to the woman who pretended not to hear him.

Then, something clicked in his mind. He understood who the woman meant by that. She was talking about The Stranger who had the magic to control people, just like how Ohno  _ controlled _ her. He turned to look at Ohno who looked troubled with the whole situation. Is it possible for Ohno to have such magic? It is impossible, right? Unless…

“Are you trying to…” Nino started to ask, to confirm his suspicions. However, he stopped in the middle when he heard footsteps approaching followed by Kimura sensei’s voice calling their name. The woman was panic and tried to flee but failed again due to Ohno’s control. Soon after, he could see his teacher’s figure approaching them. Without thinking, all four of them ran towards the teacher in relief. Their back towards the woman.

“Headmaster, I found them,” he heard the teacher shouted when he saw them. They heard a few more steps running towards them. “What happened?”

“A lot of things. A woman attacked us. She was…” It was Sho who answered the teacher. He turned around to show Kimura sensei the woman. However, his voice trailed off and Nino changed his attention to the woman but…

She was gone.


End file.
